Warriors shoot for the sweep tonight

Welcome back to another day of Bark Bets! Monday was kind to us here with our three featured playoff picks going 3-0 on the night's slate.

For tonight, we're treated to three more postseason games in the NBA and the NHL. Can the Mavericks stave off a sweep? Will New York and Calgary even up their respective series? Let's dive in.

Golden State looks to clinch sixth Finals appearance in eight years - Up three games to none, Golden State can complete the sweep of the Dallas Mavericks with a win tonight. While Luka Doncic came alive in Game 3 with 40 points, it still wasn't enough, which bears the question: Can the Mavericks even win one game? We thought so before the series began, but that belief is out the window. Bet the Warriors to win tonight at -110. This would be the sixth appearance in the NBA Finals for the core of Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green since 2015.

Home teams have been cruising in Hurricanes-Rangers series - A common theme of the Carolina Hurricanes' postseason has been the disparity between their success at home vs. being on the road. After dropping Game 3 in New York, Carolina is now 0-4 on the road, and the Canes are letting up three more goals per game when skating on away ice. We like following this trend by betting on the Rangers to win again, currently at -108. Look to Adam Fox to register a point for New York; he has a point in every home game this postseason.
 
Battle of Alberta reaches critical intersection - We saw our first "low-scoring" affair in this Calgary-Edmonton series with the Oilers winning 4-1 on Sunday. Edmonton now has a 2-1 series lead and is at home again tonight. It's hard to ignore the scoring that the Oilers have had, and we like Leon Draisaitl to go over his 1.5 points line at +125 tonight. He leads Edmonton with 10 points in three games this series. As fans of good hockey, we're cautiously optimistic that Calgary can get a win tonight and even this series, but our preferred betting approach is betting on goals again. Games 1 and 2 both went over, and both teams are shooting the puck at such a pace that suggests scoring is coming. Bet over 6.5 goals tonight.

In other news ...

Lightning sweep Panthers, still not favorite to win the Cup - Tampa Bay made easy work of Florida in the second round, completing the 4-0 sweep on Monday night. Tampa will now get a break as it awaits the winner of Carolina-New York. Despite the dominating fashion in which they've advanced and the rest they're getting, the Lightning are still not the favorite to win the Stanley Cup. That honor goes to Colorado, but now is the time to bet on Tampa Bay to three-peat, with odds at +260. It's been proven this team knows how to get it done in the postseason.

French Open underway - The French Open has gotten started, with the action headed to the second round tomorrow. Novak Djokovic has worked out of the off-court drama that had surrounded him to maintain his place among the tennis elite. The top-seeded Djovokic won in straight sets in Round 1 and is currently +200 to win his third French Open. The Serbian won this tournament last season, and we're betting on him to do it again at these odds. 

First quarter of MLB season in the books, player futures to consider - We recently took stock of where the MLB season stands one quarter of the way through the regular season. In the National League, Manny Machado's MVP odds look good at +330. Machado has filled the void of no Fernando Tatis for the Padres en route to an NL-high .365 batting average. The American League Cy Young race will be a fun one to keep tabs on, and our early favorite is Kevin Gausman, who has shown terrific command with his strikeout success thus far.

Today's Bark Bets is written by Griffin Carroll