The Ottawa Senators ended their season in style on Wednesday night.

Josh Norris scored the overtime winner nine seconds into the extra frame as the Senators (+150) beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-3.

Ottawa closes the year with a 23-28-5 record.

While they end the year five games below .500, the Senators wrapped the season on a 10-2-1 run, including a 6-1-1 record against opponents that made the playoffs.

Ottawa isn’t a playoff team just yet.

Still, the Senators gave their fans another reason for optimism heading into the off-season with the hope that their young core can build off their experience over the final month looking ahead to 2021-2022. 

Here is the Morning Coffee for Thursday May 13, 2021.

NHL playoff series prices

With six of the eight first-round matchups set, the focus now shifts to the playoffs with series prices posted.

As expected, the two North Division matchups feature some lopsided numbers.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are the biggest favourite on the board at -275 odds against the Montreal Canadiens. Montreal is +210 to pull off a first-round upset.

The Edmonton Oilers are -185 to beat the Winnipeg Jets in the opening round. The Jets are +150 to win the series.

Meanwhile, the Carolina Hurricanes are the biggest favourite to advance past the first round among non-Canadian teams.

Carolina, which went 36-12-8 to win the Central Division, is -240 to beat the Nashville Predators. Nashville is +190 to advance to the second round.

By finishing with the best record in their division, the Hurricanes managed to avoid both the Florida Panthers and the defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round.

Florida finished with four points more than Tampa Bay, but will be a +115 underdog for that opening-round series with the Lightning listed at -145.

In the East Division, the Pittsburgh Penguins are a -150 favourite to eliminate the New York Islanders (+120).

The Boston Bruins are a -155 favourite against the Washington Capitals (+125).

While the playoffs begin on Saturday night, there is still one division winner left to be decided and it’s an important one.

The Colorado Avalanche have won four in a row to pull within two points of the Vegas Golden Knights for top spot in the West Division with one game to go.

Colorado could clinch first overall in both the division and the NHL standings with a win over the Los Angeles Kings tonight.

In addition to home ice throughout the NHL playoffs, first place would also mean an opening-round series matchup with the St. Louis Blues instead of the Minnesota Wild – two teams separated by 14 points in the standings.

Sticking with the Avalanche, the Conn Smythe winner odds are posted and Nathan Mackinnon is the betting favourite.

MacKinnon is +800 to win playoff MVP. Auston Matthews is the second choice at +1100.

Matthews’ linemate Mitch Marner is the fifth choice at +1700, behind a pair of Golden Knights in Mark Stone (+1400) and Marc-Andre Fleury (+1500).

Connor McDavid is +2200 to win the Conn Smythe.

Lakers fail to gain ground

The Los Angeles Lakers survived another close call with a 124-122 win over the Houston Rockets on Wednesday night.

The Lakers were a -435 favourite against the worst team in the association, but barely managed to get the win after Kyle Kuzma delivered a late layup to put them ahead for good with 6.9 seconds left in regulation.

LeBron James and Anthony Davis were both out of the lineup due to injuries.

Despite the win, Los Angeles failed to gain ground in the standings.

The Portland Trail Blazers (-105) beat the Utah Jazz 105-98 to maintain a one-game lead on the Lakers above the play-in tournament line.

The Trail Blazers and Mavericks are both one game up on Los Angeles at 41-29.

If the Lakers can’t catch either Portland or Dallas this weekend, they will be forced to play the Golden State Warriors in the play-in tournament.

Los Angeles is still the second choice to repeat as NBA champions at +450 odds, behind only the Brooklyn Nets (+220).

NFL Schedule Release

The complete 2021 NFL regular-season schedule was released on Wednesday night.

The NFL’s promise that it will be its “Biggest Season Ever!” is more than just a slogan – for the first time in league history, each team will play 17 regular-season games.

That will be important to keep in mind when evaluating win totals in the NFL futures market.

Meanwhile, the lines for all 16 Week 1 games are up and there has already been some movement from the opening numbers.

We circled the 10 most highly anticipated games for the 2021 season.

Cole shuts down Rays

American League Cy Young award favourite Gerrit Cole delivered again on Wednesday night.

Cole struck out 12 batters and gave up just four hits over 8.0 innings of work as the New York Yankees (-200) beat the Tampa Bay Rays 1-0.

It was Cole’s fifth game this season with 10 or more strikeouts and zero walks.

Per ESPN Stats & Info, that’s already the most such games in a single season in franchise history.

Cole remains the AL Cy Young favourite at +135 odds, ahead of Shane Bieber (+350) and Tyler Glasnow (+500).