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The Edmonton Oilers and Chicago Blackhawks square off on Saturday, August 1st to open their five-game qualifying round series. The winner advances to the Stanley Cup Playoffs, while the loser is entered into the NHL Draft lottery.
The Oilers enter the series as -200 favorites against the +160 Blackhawks. Edmonton is the second biggest qualifying round favorite at DraftKings Sportsbook. The big question in this series is what kind of stamina Chicago goalie Corey Crawford will have after missing most of training camp following a positive Covid-19 test. Although Chicago won two of the three games between these two, the betting public is backing the Oilers in a big way. 81 percent of bets and 86 percent of handle are on the Oilers.
We have an interesting split in betting on Game 1 of this series. The Oilers are -1.5 on the puck line and are getting 83 percent of all money to cover. However, on the money line, we might be seeing a little sharper money. 64 percent of total bets are on Edmonton (-150), but 58 percent of money bet is on the +130 Blackhawks.
Game 1 of the series gets going at 3 p.m. ET on Saturday. Here is the Oilers-Blackhawks series schedule.
Saturday, Aug. 1: Blackhawks vs. Oilers, 3 p.m. | NBC, SN
Monday, Aug. 3: Blackhawks vs. Oilers, 10:30 p.m. | NBCSN, NHL.TV, SN, NBCSCH
Wednesday, Aug. 5: Oilers vs. Blackhawks, 10:30 p.m. | NBCSN, NHL.TV, SN, NBCSCH
Friday, Aug. 7: Oilers vs. Blackhawks*, TBD
Saturday, Aug. 8: Blackhawks vs. Oilers*, TBD
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