Well, anyone who bet on sports has to be smiling right now. The Pens and Wings treated us to one of the best Cup Finals in recent memory and the Pens shocked the sportsbook universe with their come-from-behind victory. It was a series of unsung heroes — Maxime Talbot, Jordan Staal and Tyler Kennedy proved that — but I want to give special props to a man unsung even among the unsung, if that makes sense: Brooks Orpik.

The beefy Pens blueliner was a MAN in Game 7, dishing out nine hits and blocking five shots. Huge! Better yet, he showed amazing discipline throughout the playoffs. He’s a rare player in that he can be physical without getting reckless and taking too many bad penalties. I’m betting management in Pittsburgh is pretty happy it signed him to a six-year deal at the end of 2008.

I hope you enjoyed sports wagering on hockey this season, my friends! Don’t worry — I’m not leaving. There will be plenty to talk about throughout this offseason…

I’ll leave you with the immortalized image of “the save” — one that should become iconic among those who wager online for years to come.

Well, after that nice lead-in, I can’t find the picture. So how about Penguins drunk instead!?

What the eff, Penguins? Stanley Cup betting suddenly just got a lot less interesting. Everyone in the NHL betting hype machine was declaring the series a classic when, out of nowhere, the Pens lay a massive, rotten egg. Detroit scored first, the fans got involved, and the Pens just lost their cool.

Crosby and Malkin, taking dumb penalties? Letting their emotions get the better of them? Wasn’t this supposed to be the team that matured after last season? Wasn’t now supposed to be “their time” in NHL betting?

I still have faith that the Pens can rally in Stanley Cup betting. After all, they’re going back to comfy Mellon Arena. But if they really want to win this damn thing, they have to grow up and show some mental toughness in Detroit. You’re never gonna win one if you can’t keep your emotions in check on the road, fellas.

I’m like a parent, repeating myself. So I’ll stop now and just say GO TO YOUR ROOM!

Don’t give up on the Pens in online wagering quite yet. They have to have learned something from last year, right?

Am I great Belmont betting horse race jockey? Am I any more of a great hockey player? No. But that doesn’t mean I can’t give my boy Sid the Kid advice.

You know what? The Sid hating is really tiresome. Yes, he has the off-ice personality of unleavened bread, but he’s dynamic, creative player on the ice and, for all his whining, he’s not afraid to get physical at all. So forgive me for trying to help the “crybaby.”

Sid — I know you’re not a natural goal scorer, but you certainly can still score. You had 14 goals in the first three rounds of the NHL betting playoffs, for cryin’ out loud. What was the key? Well, let’s take a look at this SICK highlight video showing his goals vs Ovechkin’s in the second round of Stanley Cup betting. He’s like a tennis player in the French Open Finals odds — getting rid of the puck/ball as soon as it’s on his stick/racquet.

Goal 1 - One quick move into the center, laser wrist shot.

Goal 2 - rebound on the doorstep, immediately jams it in. Dwight Howard would be proud in NBA Finals betting.

Goal 3 - rebound on the doorstep, quickly tucks it in

Goal 4 - has about five whacks, wastes no time, takes about 4,508 shots in two seconds and finally puts it home

I could go on, but you get the picture. It’s all about the RELEASE — Crosby was wasting no time when he had the puck. Against Chris Osgood, he’s trying to do too much right now, dancing, stickhandling, giving Osgood time to cut down the angle on him.

SHOOT, Sid! Keep it simple, like you’re a thoroughbred chasing a carrot in the Belmont Stakes odds. It’s the key to your team’s online wagering hopes.

Danica Patrick’s Indy 500 odds looked better than Evgeni Malkin’s odds of scoring another playoff goal this season just a few weeks ago. Boy, has that ever changed.

After everyone wrote him off or called him out — including this blog — Geno has responded in a big way, to the tune of 13 friggin’ points in his last five hockey betting contests. Pretty damned impressive. Who knows what flicked the switch? Whatever the reason, he’s totally rediscovered his game. He’s using his great size to protect the puck, he’s hitting, he’s taking punishment — hell, he even dropped the gloves last night — and he’s handling the puck with confidence. The crescendo was last night’s hat trick, topped off by this gorgeous goal:

The Stanley Cup odds look better for the Penguins by the second, don’t they? Crosby hasn’t slowed down and Malkin’s back. It’ll be interesting to see if he can avoid another disappearing act in the Final should the Penguins get there.

Enjoy the Red Wings vs Blackhawks odds tonight! More Pens tomorrow plus the UFC 98 odds. Should be fun for sports wagering fans.

I’m back, hockey betting fans. Did you miss me? No, I wasn’t off cavorting with basketball betting fans. suppose I should’ve told you I was leaving North America for a week. Well, here I am, having missed the beginning of the Penguins vs Hurricanes odds and the Red Wings vs Blackhawks odds and trying to catch up.

I’ve noticed something interesting. Something that happened 25 years ago in hockey betting.

The year: 1984. The budding dynasty known as the Edmonton Oilers reaches the Stanley Cup Final for the second straight year. The season prior, the young Oilers lost to the powerhouse New York Islanders, who captured their fourth straight Stanley Cup odds crown. In 1984, though, the Oilers, led by legendary superstars Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier, faced the Islanders again and took the next step forward, triumphing over the Isles in five games.

The year: 2009. The budding dynasty known as the Pittsburgh Penguins is up 1-0 in the Conference Final after losing in last year’s Stanley Cup final to the Detroit Red Wings, who captured their third cup in 11 seasons. Now, the Wings and Pens are on a collision course to meet again in the final, and something tells me the result will follow the path of the ‘84 Oilers, as Crosby and Malkin take the torch from Gretzky and Messier.

I’m saying it now: the Penguins will win the Stanley Cup odds this season. Make a sports wagering pick now, why don’t ya?

So far, hockey betting has at the very least treated us to scome scintillating peformances in the Penguins vs Capitals odds. Now it’s time to ask those betting online whether or not we’re witnessing the demise of the Peguins’ 2008-09 season. Is a 2-0 series deficit insurmountable or will the Pens climb right back into the series at home?

I want to say the Pens will bounce back. The Caps’ defense still hasn’t looked great and the Pens’ power play has been fine with Sergei Gonchar playing quarterback. However, aside from Sidney Crosby’s inspired effort (say what you want about his whining re: hats on the ice, but his own hat trick last night was impressive) and Marc-Andre Fleury’s solid if unspectacular play, there isn’t a lot for Penguins odds supporters to cheer about so far in this series.

Do the Pens have depth or “depth”? In round one, the secondary scorers chipped in, but now it seems no one wants to help Sid. Even Evgeni Malkin has disappeared off the face of the Earth and seems “intimidated by Ovechkin” according to some hockey betting pundits.

Time is running out for the Pens to recover in this series. The Caps showed the Rangers that they can be road warriors, Alexander Ovechkin is absolutely flying right now and Simeon Varlamov continues to play with the type of poise that makes you think he may not fully understand the magnitude of the Stanley Cup odds.

Your move, Pittsburgh. More specifically: your move, Evgeni. Will you respond?

Events like the Kentucky Derby odds and the Pacquiao vs Hatton boxing odds are about to take center stage in the sports betting world, so we hockey betting fans may as well retreat into the shadows and muse away on what’s becoming an interesting first round.

- Maxime Talbot’s courageous battle against heavyweight Daniel Carcillo in Game 6 Saturday raised an interesting online wagering debate between me and my pals. Some of my friends think the “fighting when you’re team is down to create a spark” theory is overrated, but who can ignore the fact that the Penguins rallied from a 3-0 deficit to win after that fight? And Talbot is reportedly a very popular guy in the dressing room.

- Did I miss something in the John Tortorella/Capitals fan brawl during Game 5 of the Rangers vs Capitals odds? Didn’t the guy dump a beer on Torts? And he gets suspended for retaliating? Nice job, NHL — you just told fans “go ahead and dump beer on coaches. They’ll get suspended.” See the incident for yourself:

- Love him or hate him, Pierre Maguire really knows what he’s talking about.

- As tough as the Flames vs Blackhawks odds have been, neither team has showed a ton of mental toughness so far; it’s been a “hit at home, wilt on the road” series for both teams, so Calgary should be a no-brainer sportsbook pick to win Game 7. Unless one of these squads shows an ability to win away from its own rink, the winner of this series could be ousted quickly in round two of the Stanley Cup odds.