NHL Playoffs: Dietel stays away from Capitals v Hurricanes, focuses on Stars v Predators

Best Bet
Predators over STARS

The Skinny
We are opting to steer clear of the Capitals v Hurricanes tilt tonight. Each of those teams has won all of their respective home games but we aren’t too confident either way especially after Carolina’s poor effort on Saturday. We prefer the Stars v Predators matchup instead tonight. The Predators have their backs up against a wall as they face elimination in the first round, something most people thought impossible at the start of the season but as we’ve learned, anything can happen in the playoffs (sorry Lightning, Jets, and Flames). We think that Nashville will be the outlier to the trend this year. Sure, they are without F Wayne Simmonds and sure, they are on the road, but we think they can pull out the grit and skill to pull his off. All they truly need is an all-star caliber performance from G Pekka Rinne, which he is certainly capable of, and they force a game 7. We’ll bet on that any day.