NHL playoff picks: No quick-fix antidote for snakebitten Canadiens

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It was a frustrating 1-2 night on the ice, with the Knights unable to win by two despite another dominating effort.

Wednesday's elimination day in the NHL with four teams on the brink, and we've got a couple best bets to lean into.

Arizona Coyotes (+175) @ Colorado Avalanche (-210)

Game 4 was as lopsided as any we'll see in these playoffs. It was an embarrassment - men against boys, as Coyotes head coach Rick Tocchet put it. The Avalanche won 7-1, but it wasn't only on the scoreboard that Colorado dominated.

There's no way the Coyotes embarrass themselves like that again. This is a team with a strong defensive system and one of the league's best goalies - it'll respond positively to its humiliation. In order to do so, Arizona needs to get back to the basics: disciplined, defensive hockey. There's no world in which the Coyotes beat the Avalanche in a game of pond hockey and they learned that the hard way.

Darcy Kuemper is obviously a lot better than what he showed Sunday, though his defense did him no favors. But he's been known to rebound: over his Coyotes career, after allowing five or more goals in a game, Kuemper's averaged only two against in his next start (12 goals against in six games).

Elimination games are typically much tighter. With a spirited response from the Coyotes and a strong showing from Kuemper, they keep things close in a game in which they're fighting for their playoff lives.

Pick: Under 5.5 (-130)

Montreal Canadiens (+120) @ Philadelphia Flyers (-140)

Things aren't playing out in this series as the underlying stats suggest they should. All the numbers - expected goals, scoring chances, possession - suggest the Canadiens should have a stranglehold on the series. They've controlled an enormous share of the expected goals and outscored the Flyers 6-5 through four games, but have only one win to show for it.

The Canadiens again held the edge in Game 4, but a pair of weak goals allowed by Carey Price, a Jeff Petry shot off the post, and some Carter Hart heroics resulted in yet another win for the Flyers. Yeah, Montreal is playing well, but the results aren't there. It's the playoffs - chances don't matter, only goals do, and the Habs can't find the back of the net right now.

Sure, they're a bit snakebitten - they've hit countless posts - but there's also some scoring talent lacking in this forward group. It's the same issue that plagued the Habs all regular season - they were eighth in expected goals for but 18th in actual goals scored. At some point you have to jump ship, and with the Canadiens reeling, it's time to put on our life jackets and swim to safety.

Pick: Flyers (-140)

(Odds source: theScore Bet)

Alex Moretto is a sports betting writer for theScore. A journalism graduate from Guelph-Humber University, he has worked in sports media for over a decade. He will bet on anything from the Super Bowl to amateur soccer, is too impatient for futures, and will never trust a kicker. Find him on Twitter @alexjmoretto.