Morning Coffee: Florida, Houston set to meet in March Madness finale

Alex Ovechkin spent two decades ripping pucks past opposing goaltenders as he chased after Wayne Gretzky’s all-time NHL goals record.

This morning, he woke up alone atop the list of the NHL’s all-time leading goal scorers.

Ovechkin scored his 895th career NHL goal against the New York Islanders on Sunday to break the record.

FanDuel had Ovechkin to break the record this season at +950.

Per the FanDuel traders, Ovechkin to break the record against the Islanders was initially posted at +5000 when that novelty market was first published.

That milestone goal was also his NHL-record 325th career powerplay tally and NHL-record 456th career road marker.

If you’re a regular reader or you follow me on X, then you know I bet Ovechkin to break the record with a hat-trick at +2000 against the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday.

It didn’t happen, but I did cash Ovechkin anytime goal in five straight games at the best available price at FanDuel.

The final stretch of the Gr8 Chase was a memorable one.

The 39-year-old Ovechkin is the second-oldest player in NHL history to deliver a five-game goal streak.

He’s up to 42 goals this season despite missing a career-high 16 games with a broken leg.

Ovechkin became the 10th player to take a turn as the NHL’s all-time leading goal scorer.

Who will be the 11th player to join that exclusive club?

With The Gr8 Chase finally in the books - Ovechkin wearing his new crown – I’ll need to finish my coffee and consider a couple of FanDuel Best Bets for tonight before getting into a debate about who the next one will be.

This is the Morning Coffee for Monday April 7th, 2025.

Florida, Houston Set To Meet In March Madness Finale

The NCAA basketball tournaments were good to me thanks in large part to the “Chalk Madness” that we saw in the Sweet 16, Elite Eight, and most of the Final Four.

Unfortunately, they call it March Madness for a reason, and we finally got a little chaos in the closing minutes of the men’s Final Four on Saturday night.

Duke led Houston by 14 points with 8:03 left on the clock.

The Blue Devils led by nine points with 2:06 to go.

They still led by six points with 34 seconds left.

Somehow, they found a way to lose that game outright.

The Cougars stormed back from down double digits to beat Duke 70-67 and complete the first tournament upset since the second round.

Per the FanDuel traders, Houston could be found as high as +8000 to beat Duke outright.

To put that number in perspective, 15 teams had shorter odds to win the title at the start of the tournament than the Cougars did to beat the Blue Devils live.

And I was on the wrong side of that memorable rally.

This is the life I chose.

Prior to Houston’s epic comeback victory, the betting favourite had won 15 straight games.

It was quite the scene for somebody who bet the Blue Devils to win the title and had Duke over Florida in the championship game of his bracket.

It’s tough to imagine how the players and coaches felt.

Turning the page this morning, the Gators have been a popular pick to win the championship game at FanDuel.

Florida opened -1.5 versus Houston.

While that number hasn’t changed, 63 per cent of the money is on the Gators to cover the spread in tonight’s March Madness finale.

Per the FanDuel traders, 63 per cent of the stakes wagered on the total have come in on the over.

Over the last 60 years, there have been 26 championship games with a spread of two points or less.

The favourites and underdogs have each won 13 games.

The winner covered the spread in all 26 games.

Favourites are 41-13 overall in NCAA men’s basketball championship games dating back to 1970.

The favourite had also won 15 straight games prior to Houston’s win over Duke, going 49-23 straight up overall in this year’s tournament.

For the Cougars, the magic number appears to be 70.

Houston is 33-0 straight up this season when they hold their opponents to under 70 points.

If they can hold Florida to under 70 points tonight, the Cougars will have a chance to complete an epic title run.

If they don’t, there’s a good chance the Gators will reward the FanDuel bettors that made Florida the second-most popular pick to win the men’s title behind only Duke in the championship winner market.

In terms of a FanDuel Best Bet, I’ll have to pass.

I’ve had a lot of success betting the men’s and women’s tournaments.

However, Duke was my pick to win the men’s title, and after their stunning exit there’s no way I can label a side for tonight’s game a FanDuel Best Bet.

The majority of FanDuel bettors are on Florida to win.

I lean Gators as well, but I’m not willing to bet against Houston again tonight.

A FanDuel Best Bet To Consider For Monday Night

I’ll be watching Florida and Houston tonight on TSN, but in terms of a FanDuel Best Bet I’ll take the Boston Red Sox to beat the Toronto Blue Jays at -126.

The Red Sox finally awoke from their slumber with a three-game sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals in which they outscored them by 16 runs.

Boston’s offence looked terrible out of the gates, but that was against a legitimate AL pennant contender in the Texas Rangers.

Since then, the Red Sox have won five in a row.

Meanwhile, the Blue Jays followed up a three-game sweep of the Washington Nationals with a three-game sweep at the hands of the New York Mets.

Easton Lucas was excellent in his debut against the Washington Nationals.

A trip to Fenway Park to face an opponent that is suddenly heating up is a much different test.

Toronto was able to lock up Vladimir Guerrero Jr. with a contract extension late last night.

While Blue Jays fans are hoping Vladdy Jr. can turn things around following a slow start, I’ll be hoping it doesn’t happen tonight in Boston.

Give me the Red Sox ML as a FanDuel Best Bet.

Have a great day, everyone!