Playing his first and only season with the Waxers, Stamkos destroyed the competition, scoring 105 goals and 197 points in 66 games. Stamkos caught the eye of most NHL scouts long before he was ripping OMHA competition to shreds.

The center was a coveted prize by the time the NHL Draft was held in 2008. Stamkos went first overall for Tampa Bay and he is an apparent perfect fit for the Lightning.

Stamkos scored 23 goals and 23 assists in his first season with the Lightning and the natives were restless in Tampa Bay. This was suppose to be the center who would deliver them a Stanley Cup?

Stamkos responded to the rumblings and he produced his best season of his career in 2009-2010. He broke through the mystical 50 goal mark with 51 goals scored and he added 44 assists, just missing another key milestone by scoring 95 points.

Stamkos tied another young legend of the game, Sidney Crosby, with the 51 goals. The career of the young Uniondale, Ontario, native is just beginning. The next five years of Stamkos career will determine if he is known as an above average center or if his destiny is the Hockey Hall of Fame.

With the season set to begin now might be a good time to check out the NHL prop bets at your favorite sportsbook.

In game 1 of the series, the Bruins did not start things off the right way. They also just were unable to hold off the offensive attack of the Lightning on defense as the team was unable to get things going offensively. By beating Boston by a score of 5-2, the Tampa Bay Lightning managed to jump ahead for a 1-0 lead in the series.

Even though Thomas, the goaltender for the Bruins, did allow 4 of the goals for the Lightning, he played a decent game. Although in the playoffs it is often necessary to step things up to the next level as a goaltender, he made 29 saves. In this series, interestingly each of the goaltenders has somewhat of a weakness in that they aren’t particularly good at handling the puck. This means that the opposing team may be able to force the goaltenders to make mistakes as they can put some pressure on the goaltender when he is trying to clear it out.

During the season the Bruins were one of the better all-around teams and they had a top 5 defense and a top 5 offense. In their last game, their offensive and defensive game plans looked interrupted. As it will be difficult to come back from 2 games to none, they need to get on track for game two.

In online free sports picks, Boston is a -150 favorite and the total is 5.5.

With the same game plan, the Lightning simply needs to come back. They should leave Boston up 2 games to none if they can disrupt Boston in game 2 the way they did in game 1.

NHL Betting has Boston as a -140 moneyline favorite and the total at 5.5.

The Bruins started off the series in dominating fashion. The series looked like it would be an evenly matched series, but the Bruins came out with some fire. They put the puck in the net 7 times in the first game, showing their offensive prowess. They also had a decent game defensively, limiting the Flyers to 3 goals in the game. With this effort they managed to go up 1-0 in the series.

The Flyers came out with a better effort in the 2nd game and forced the game to overtime, as the score was tied 2-2 at the end of regulation. The Bruins came through in the clutch, scoring a goal to take a 2-0 series lead.

The bad news for the Flyers is that they lost their two home games and now they’ll have to win the next couple games in Boston. While these teams both were good road teams in the regular season, the advantage of playing at home seems to be much more demonstrated in the playoffs. Look for the Boston fans to get involved to support their team through this 3rd game.

If the Bruins can win, they’ll go up 3-0 and be just one win away from securing the series. This would be a big win as they are actually the lower seeded team in this series.

The total is 5 in NHL odds as the game is a pick’em.

For both teams the series has been a tough one so far. The Capitals have managed to take control with a 2-1 series lead over the Rangers to this point in the series.

As the Capitals managed to limit the scoring opportunities of the Rangers the first two games of the series were dominated by them. As the Capitals walked away with a 2-0 and a 2-1 victory over the Rangers the Rangers were held to just 1 goal in their first two games.

As the Rangers found a way to put the puck in the net, game 3 of the series brought more competition to the table. The Capitals were only able to put up 2 goals as the Rangers scored 3 goals over the course of the game.

The Capitals would like to get some more going offensively while they lead the series. Their defense may not be able to contain New York to less than 2 goals in every game as the team has only scored 2 goals in each game. They will need to do whatever they can to feed off of him during the series as they have one of the premier players in the league in Alex Ovechkin.

The Rangers will need to bring everything they’ve got to prevent the Capitals from taking the 3-1 series lead as they have a chance to even up the series in this game. In online sports picks the New York Rangers are favorite to win this match.

Montreal is at 60-1 odds to win the Stanley Cup in hockey betting lines Odds.

This contest between two original six teams will be the last game of the season for both clubs, and could have serious playoff ramifications. But Toronto won’t be playing for a playoff spot in this game, as the Maple Leafs were eliminated Tuesday after hoping to squeak into the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

The Canadiens on the other hand should have a playoff spot wrapped by Saturday night, but a recent swoon has the players and fans wondering if Montreal is poised for a late season collapse.

Even if playoff births are not at stake during this contest, playoff seeding certainly will be. Currently, Montreal is tied for sixth place in the East and is only one point ahead of eighth place Buffalo.

Every remaining game is important for the Canadiens. A win over rival Toronto will improve Montreal’s seed for the upcoming playoffs and possibly offer the Canadiens a more favorable first round opponent.

Both teams are non-factors in NHL Betting Odds in terms of Stanley Cup Futures, with Avs on the verge of missing the NHL Playoffs and the Kings at 75-1.

The Kings are 21-12-3 this season when playing at home. The Kings are currently the 5th best team in the Western Conference, but things are extremely tight in the playoff race. While the Kings could climb further up the standings with a strong finish to the season, they are also part of a 6 team group that is fighting for the final 4 spots in the Western Conference playoff hunt.

The Avalanche are not in nearly as good of a position as the Kings are at this point. Colorado is one of two teams in the Western Conference that has already been statistically eliminated from playoff contention and they will start their off season a lot earlier than many of the teams in the league.

The Avalanche have been terrible on the road this season. They have managed a record of 13-19-4 this season and they look like they will be the heavy underdogs against Colorado. This being said, hockey is the type of game where any team can pull out a victory if they have a good night. Look for Colorado to try to ruin the season for every team that they face for the rest of the season.

The Kings do not have a fantastic offense, but they should be able to score goals against the Colorado Avalanche defense as their defense is among the worst in the NHL.

Even though Nashville does have two games in hand, currently they sit only one point out of the eighth and final playoff spot behind Calgary. Early in the season, Nashville was one of the surprise teams and even led the Central Division for some time.

Predators find themselves having to fight for every point they can gain in the standings, however, in the last month or two, they have fallen on hard times. Even though now it is just essential to Nashville’s playoff hopes, this late season matchup with Detroit was viewed a month or so ago as a potential game that could help decide the Central Division race.

On the other hand Detroit continues to roll towards another playoff appearance. The Chicago Blackhawks have closed the gap to just six points thanks in large part to a 7-1-2 record in their last ten games while the Red Wings were once comfortably atop the Central Division. Even though with two consecutive wins the Red Wings may be back on track, Detroit has struggled as of late only going 4-4-2 in their last ten.

As both teams would love to win and get the two points in the standings, Saturday’s contest should be a hard hitting, fast skating game. In online sports tips the Detroit Red Wings are favorites to win this match.

Philadelphia is a top favorite to win the Stanley Cup at 6-1 in NHL Odds.

The Stars have achieved a good record this season, but they have actually been outscored by their opponents this season by a margin of two goals. The Stars are pretty much a middle of the pack team on offense and defense, but they seem to find a way to win close games on a regular basis. This may help them in this game as the Flyers are a tough team and will definitely hang tough throughout the game.

The Flyers have a high scoring offense and will want to try to put the puck in the net as frequently as possible in this game. The Stars do not have the same sort of offensive production and may not be able to keep up if this is a high scoring game.

The Stars will be the home team in this game, where they have been at their best this season. They are 18-9-5 while playing at home this year. The Flyers have been an excellent road team this year and should hang tough in Dallas. They are 20-9-3 while playing on the road this year.

This game could be a playoff preview as both of these teams are legitimate playoff contenders.

In NHL betting lines, Pittsburgh is at 9-2 and Boston at 14-1 in Futures Odds to win the Stanley Cup.

In this game the Bruins will be the home team where they are interestingly at their worst. The Bruins have dropped 12 of their 19 losses while playing at home while most teams in the league play their best in front of their home crowd. With a record of 17-10-4 to this point in the season, the Penguins are a solid team on the road.

On both ends of the ice, the Pittsburgh Penguins are solid. They allow 2.4 goals per game, the 5th best average in the NHL whereas they average 2.8 goals per game, the 8th best average in the NHL. Their ability to stop their opponents on the power play has been the secret to their success on defense. At 86.7 percent, they currently have the best penalty kill percentage in the NHL.

By allowing 2.3 goals per game, the Bruins have the best defense in the NHL. The Bruins are not nearly as good as the Penguins when their opponents are on the power play and that is the interesting part.  If the Penguins hope to win this game, they will need to try to take advantage of the weakness in the Bruins’ defense.

In order to gain some momentum to finish out the season, each team would like a win in this game.

While the Rangers are at 65-1 in NHL Odds, Tampa Bay is among the favorites to win the Stanley Cup at 40-1.

Even though the Rangers having a 2-7-1 record in their last ten games has them faithful feeling leery about their postseason chances, right now they hold the 7th spot in the Eastern Conference. The Lightning are feeling the pressure from the Washington Capitals for the Southeast Division lead while Tampa Bay has not really been struggling as of late. A two game win streak by Washington and a three game slide by Tampa has closed the gap between to the two teams to only one point.

This game on Sunday is pretty important because of the close competition for both team’s playoff spots and neither team wants to miss out on the opportunity to gain two points in the standings.

Since the Rangers will be missing one of their top goal scorers in Marian Gaborik who is out with concussion like symptoms, they are definitely in a more desperate mood. Even though the Rangers could not afford to lose his scoring touch during this critical time of the season, it is unclear when Gaborik will return to the lineup. The Rangers can expect to see their goals per game ranking fall below its current ranking of 21st; if New York does not find someone in their lineup to replace Gaborik’s offensive production.