Last night the Edmonton Oilers escaped elimination for another day. They beat the Carolina Hurricanes 4-3 in overtime in game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals. The series is now 3-2 in favor of Carolina. Game 6 will be played on Saturday in Edmonton. The Hurricanes will be looking to close out the series again and take home the Stanley Cup. The early sportsbetting line has Edmonton slightly favored at -105 to -120. The Hurricanes are listed anywhere from +102 to -105.

Yesterday I talked about some things that were required for the Oilers to pull off the win. Last night a couple of those things happened. First, the officiating was extremely tight and it was power play central. Last night, while exciting, was not a typical game. There were far too many power plays. Additionally, Edmonton got away with some clear penalties right in front of refs in the second and third periods. The other thing that happened was luck.

The Oilers were the recipients of some lucky plays. The last goal of the game was a fluke. Carolina was on the power play and there was a lazy pass in their end, which was intercepted and the winning goal scored. Edmonton threw everything they had at the Hurricanes last night and it was only enough due to these strange circumstances. In game 6, that probably won’t be the case. If you are following along my golden opportunity post, we are sitting good as the Hurricanes will be around even money for game 6 instead of a moderate favorite.

We are now on stage two of the golden opportunity. The next bet needs to be large enough to cover yesterday’s loss and to make some money. For example, if you bet $20 (to win $10), the next bet, if Carolina is even money, would be $30. A win in game 6 would return your game 5 loss and $10 profit. If you watched last night’s game, you could see how much better Carolina really is. Despite all the power plays and pace, they still hung in there and if not for one lazy pass, they had the opportunity to win.

Think back to game one. Edmonton played the same way last night—throwing everything at the Hurricanes. What happened after game one? The Oilers looked empty, the Hurricanes adjusted and the Hurricanes dominated. Game 5 was extremely exciting and it was nice to see the NHL Finals finally getting on a prime network (NBC).