For the first time since 2009, the two preseason favorites will square off in the Stanley Cup Final. The Colorado Avalanche entered the season as +550 favorites while the Tampa Bay Lightning were 7-1 to win their third straight title.
Now, the Avalanche are -175 favorites to win their first Cup since 2001. The Lightning are +155, which is tied for the longest odds they’ve faced to win a series in the past five postseasons. They beat the Panthers as +155 underdogs in the second round.
Catch all of the action live on ABC and ESPN+ all series long, with the puck dropping on Game 1 Wednesday night at 8 ET.
Colorado Avalanche
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The Avalanche have been Stanley Cup favorites all season. No team since the lockout has finished wire-to-wire as the favorite and won the title. They would be the second preseason favorite to win the title in the past decade, joining the 2020 Lightning.
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The Avalanche are 5-0 in Game 1s over the past two postseasons, outscoring opponents 29-12.
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The Avalanche are 7-0 on the road this postseason, covering the puck line five times.
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The Avalanche won both regular-season meetings by one goal, including one win in a shootout.
1:07
Check out the best moments of the postseason from the Lightning and Avalanche ahead of their Stanley Cup Final Game 1 matchup Wednesday night.
Tampa Bay Lightning
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The Lightning are +140 underdogs in Game 1. Their longest odds in any game in the past five seasons is +145 (done four times including twice this postseason, both wins).
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Ten of the past 11 Lightning playoff games have gone under the total.
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Over the past five seasons, Andrei Vasilevskiy is 26-10-2 (+22.21 units) as an underdog, including 14-3 (+13.2 units) in the postseason. Overall, Vasilevskiy is 17-8 (+12.77 units) as an underdog in the postseason in his career. The Lightning are 5-2 as an underdog this postseason (+4.2 units).
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The Lightning have won seven straight home playoff games (7-1 overall this postseason), and they’ve won 13 of their past 14 home playoff games dating back to last postseason.
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The Lightning went 8-3 in the Stanley Cup Final the past two seasons (+3.31 units). They were favored in all of those games.
Stanley Cup history
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Home teams are 13-2 in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final since the 2005 lockout (excluding the 2020 bubble). Overs are 4-0-1 in Game 1 in the past five Stanley Cup Finals with each game decided by multiple goals.
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Since the Stanley Cup Final moved to a best-of-seven series in 1939, teams that win Game 1 have an all-time series record of 62-20 (.756). However, three of the past four teams to lose Game 1 went on to win the Cup: Washington (2018), St. Louis (2019) and Tampa Bay (2020).
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Excluding the 2020 bubble, home teams are 35-10 in the first three games of the Stanley Cup Final, compared to 24-21 in Games 4-7 (5-6 in Game 6, 1-3 in Game 7) since the 2005 lockout.
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Favorites have won eight of the past 10 Stanley Cup Finals, though they have split the last four seasons.
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Home teams are 51-32 this postseason (+6.15 units). Road teams had been +23.63 units in the previous three non-bubble postseasons.
Odds from Caesars Sportsbook and SportsOddsHistory.com
Source: www.espn.com