There were three underdogs listed at +290 or longer on the Thursday NHL slate.

Yesterday afternoon, we put out a poll that asked our audience which of those underdogs was most likely to pull off the upset.

As it turns out, the option that received the most votes was the only one that didn’t cash.

The Montreal Canadiens, which received 25 per cent of the vote, rallied from down 3-1 in the third period to beat the Calgary Flames 5-4 in overtime as the biggest underdog on the board at +330. 

The Arizona Coyotes, which received the fewest votes at 9.4 per cent, upset the Colorado Avalanche for the second time this season with a 2-1 win at +290.

Meanwhile, the team that received the most votes in the poll was the one that lost, as the Florida Panthers beat the Ottawa Senators 3-0 as a -410 favourite.

It likely wasn’t a good night for anyone who likes to bet NHL money line parlays as underdogs went 6-3 overall.  

Here’s the TSN EDGE Morning Coffee for Friday March 4, 2022.

Habs, Coyotes upset Western Conference powers

If you went to bed last night needing only the Flames or the Avalanche to cash a ticket, you woke up to quite the surprise this morning.

Habs winger Mike Hoffman scored and added three assists, including setting up Ben Chiarot for the overtime winner. Nick Suzuki finished with three points.

Andrew Hammond made 30 saves to improve to 3-0-0 with the Canadiens.

Montreal has now won each of its past four games as an underdog at +200 or longer.

Meanwhile, the Coyotes improved to 2-1-1 versus Colorado this season – they’re 13-34-3 against everybody else.

The biggest factor in both of their wins? Goaltending.

Scott Wedgewood made 38 saves in a 3-2 shootout win over the Avalanche as a +425 underdog on Feb. 1. Last night, Karel Vejmelka made 42 saves in the 2-1 win.

Meanwhile, the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-1 as a +140 underdog, the Chicago Blackhawks beat the Edmonton Oilers 4-3 at +125, the Washington Capitals beat the Carolina Hurricanes 4-0 at +110 and the Vancouver Canucks beat the New York Islanders 4-3 at -105 on a big night for NHL underdogs.

We’ll see if that trend carries over into a busy Friday night in the NHL with seven games on the schedule.

However, we won’t get an upset like the ones the Habs and Coyotes pulled off last night, as the Detroit Red Wings are the biggest dog on the board at +260 at the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Casey’s Pistons take down the Raptors again

Jerami Grant scored a team-high 26 points as Dwane Casey’s Detroit Pistons beat the Toronto Raptors 108-106 as a +270 underdog on Thursday night.

Casey improved to 9-3 straight up versus Toronto as the head coach of the Pistons. He owns an 88-183 record against the rest of the NBA over that span.

While we’d never recommend blindly betting a trend, Casey is 3-0 straight up against the Raptors this season and Detroit was an underdog in all three of those games.

Meanwhile, if you haven’t been keeping an eye on the points props for Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month Scottie Barnes, you might want to start.

Barnes scored 21 points to go well over 15.5 in last night’s loss.

Shout out to “The Big E” Eric Cohen, who pointed out the combined point and rebound prop number for Barnes at 23.5.

He finished with 21 points and 10 boards to clear that number by seven.

Barnes has scored 28, 6, 28, 18 and 21 points in five games since the All-Star break – a 4-1 run to the over on his points prop.

The Raptors are right back at it tonight with another home game against the Orlando Magic.

Durant scores 31, Nets fall to Heat

Kevin Durant scored a game-high 31 points with four rebounds and four assists in his return to the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday night.

It wasn’t enough to get the win, as Bam Adebayo went for 30 points and 11 rebounds in a 113-107 win for the Miami Heat.

The Nets, which remained without both Kyrie Irving and Ben Simmons, led by as many as 16 points before things fell apart.

Brooklyn has now lost three straight and 16 of their last 19 overall dating back to Jan. 23.

Despite that slide, the Nets are still the third choice to win the NBA championship at +600 this morning.

Only the Phoenix Suns (+430) and the Golden State Warriors (+450) have shorter odds. 

The Warriors also lost again last night to the Dallas Mavericks for the second time in five games.

Golden State has dropped seven of its past nine overall.

The good news for the Warriors is that they should be able to get back on track against the free-falling Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday night.

The Lakers are coming off a 132-111 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Thursday as a two-point underdog.

 

LeBron James and company have dropped four straight and are just 3-11 since Jan. 27.

It will be interesting to see what the line for that game between the Lakers and Warriors looks like by the time that Saturday night rolls around.  

Reading between the lines for UFC 272

Speaking of Saturday night, we are just over 24 hours away from an absolutely monster card for UFC 272.

Earlier this week, our MMA expert Aaron Bronsteter gave us his best bet for the main event showdown between Colby Covington and Jorge Masvidal.

For all of Aaron’s picks for UFC 272, make sure you check back in on the TSN EDGE hub for the full breakdowns.