In all honesty, there was a point this morning where we thought we’d have to write this blog without knowing the outcome of a game from last night. That would have been a first for us.

While it took four overtimes, Matthew Tkachuk finally scored and ended game one of the Eastern Conference Finals very early in the morning, in front of likely small but devoted view public. More importantly, we predicted another South Florida road victory in game one, as we picked the Panthers to pull off the upset in game one.

South Florida is on a roll, and we are all in on the Chucky and the Panthers and Playoff Jimmy and the Heat.

The other two legs of our parlay yesterday revolved around the Los Angeles Lakers and Denver Nuggets. As predicted, Nikola Jokić scored another triple-double – Joker is averaging a triple-double per game in the NBA playoffs, while Anthony Davis disappeared offensively. If we could be credited with wins for those successful predictions, we’d be three for three.

We’d increase that record to 4-4 as we picked the Nuggets to win at home, which they did with a 108-103 victory.

However, you know what’s not a first for us? The phrase “so close, yet so far away.”

For the third leg of our parlay, we selected the Nuggets and Lakers to hit the over, which they didn’t come close to touching, mostly due to poor shooting efficiency for stretches of the game.

While our parlay record dropped to 0-5, we improved to 6-8-1 on individual picks.

We’re getting back over .500 on our individual picks and getting our parlay blog championship back with Friday’s multi-game parlay.

Dallas Stars over Vegas Golden Knights (+100)

We successfully predicted that the two South Florida teams were going to win game one on the road, and we’re following that path with leg one of Friday’s parlay.

Moreover, road teams have had excellent success throughout the NHL playoffs in game one of a series this season.

Add this to the fact that the Dallas Stars have won all three head-to-head matchups this season – including going 2-0 at T-Mobile Arena, are 5-2 in the previous seven head-to-head matchups, and the underdog is 6-2 in the last eight games, and you’ll quickly calculate why we’re taking the Dallas Stars to win game one of the Western Conference finals.

Dallas Stars versus Vegas Golden Knights Under 5.5 (-115)

The under is 4-1-1 in the last six matchups in Vegas.

The under is 3-0 in Stars vs Golden Knights matchups this season, with only one of those games ending with five total goals scored – the most in any head-to-head matchup.

We’re following the head-to-head trends rather than the recent over/under trends as Dallas and Vegas are coming off series’ where they faced two of the highest-scoring teams in the NHL: our arch-nemesis the Seattle Kraken and the Kings of the Over, the McDavids of the North (respectively).

We’re taking the under and a 3-2 Dallas win.

Miami Heat versus Boston Celtics Over 215.0 (-110)

We will not bet against Playoff Jimmy and think the Heat will win this series in six or seven games. That means we expect the Boston Celtics to actually put the ball in Jayson Tatum’s hands in the fourth quarter and for the Celtics to even the series on home court.

We’re not taking the Celtics (-417) on the moneyline as we refuse to bet against Jimmy Butler and the Heat, who are +300 underdogs on the road for a second straight game. While we hit on the Heat at +300 in game one, we’re turning our focus to the total points line.

The over is 3-2 in head-to-head matchups, with four of the five matchups ending with over 225.0 total points.

Miami has a 50-44 over/under record, while the Celtics have a 52-43-1 over/under record. The over is 4-0 in the previous four matchups in Boston.

We’re taking the over and expect the Celtics to even the Eastern Conference Finals.

All odds are courtesy of Action247 Sportsbook. Good luck!!

* All odds provided by Action247 Sportsbook and all odds subject to change.
**All views expressed are my own. My picks are my own and are not a guarantee, bet at your own risk.