The logic was this:

Wild/Blues – With Minnesota ahead 3-1 in the third period, St. Louis would inevitably pull the goalie in the final minutes, meaning the Wild had a chance to “win by the correct score of 4-1.” But I was tipped off that St. Louis took a double-minor penalty (4 minutes) with just over 4 minutes left, meaning that 1) Minnesota might not try to score on the PP and 2) the Blues might not pull the goalie. That meant the game might finish at 3-1, with no more goals scored. I jumped in at +1800 odds.

With 1 minute left and the score still 3-1, the cashout value was at 95% of the payout, so I cashed out with 30 seconds left. Good call, as the Blues finally pulled with about 17 seconds left, and the Minnesota goalie shot the puck into the empty net with 8 seconds left. “Correct score 4-1” winner, and cashout of “no next goal” was the right move.

The Oilers game was simple: They were 0-3-0 to start the season, and Philadelphia was a tired team after having played in western Canada already vs. Vancouver and Calgary. Oilers were a potent team 3-on-3 in OT. So, when it was 3-2 for the Flyers late in the game, a “tie” (ie. game to go to OT) was the choice. Then after the Oilers tied it, the pick was for Edmonton to win. When the game went to OT, the pick was for the Oilers to win in OT.

The logic with Seattle vs. Nashville is that once the Kraken went ahead 5-3 early in the third, they might get an empty-net goal later, so the pick was -2.5. But when they went up 6-3 early enough, the pick was -3.5 with the idea that the Preds might pull the goalie down 3 goals. They did, and the Kraken did score at the end to win 7-3.

The other picks ranged from okay to great (TB to win 4-1, etc.), but the NYK pick was awful. The odds were bad. For the Flames game, they were up 2-1 vs. Chicago and the idea was that the Blackhawks were not going to tie the game, and even if Calgary scored into an empty net (it happened with 36 seconds left), there was “a goal to give” for the under 4.5 pick.