How the public is betting Penguins-Canadiens qualifying round series

The Pittsburgh Penguins and Montreal Canadiens 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 Penguins enter the series as a sizable -235 favorite against the +185 Canadiens. In fact, they’re the biggest qualifying round favorite at DraftKings Sportsbook. Pittsburgh arguably benefited more than any other team in terms of getting healthy for the restart. Sidney Crosby, Jake Guentzel, and John Marino all appear to be back and playing. Crosby is getting over a training camp injury, but even with that, it’s almost not surprising 99 percent (!!!) of the handle is on the Penguins. 97 percent of total bets are also on them, so it’s not like a few big bettors are swinging this.

It’s no surprise as well that Game 1 betting splits support Pittsburgh. They are -165 favorites in the opener and getting the -1.5 puck line. The public is backing them on the money line to the tune of 91 percent of handle and on the puck line to the tune of 89 percent of handle. The over on 5.5 goals is getting 59 percent of the handle.

Game 1 of the series gets going at 8 p.m. ET on Saturday. Here is the Penguins-Canadiens series schedule.

Saturday, Aug. 1: Canadiens vs. Penguins, 8 p.m. | NBC, CBC, SN, TVAS,
Monday, Aug. 3: Canadiens vs. Penguins, 8 p.m. | NBCSN, SN, TVAS, ATTSN-PT
Wednesday, Aug. 5: Penguins vs. Canadiens, 8 p.m. | NBCSN, SN, TVAS, ATTSN-PT
Friday, Aug. 7: Penguins vs. Canadiens*
Saturday, Aug. 8: Canadiens vs. Penguins*

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