Columbus Blue Jackets vs Florida Panthers NHL Picks, Odds, Predictions 1/26/21
Florida Panthers at Columbus Blue Jackets 1/26/21: NHL Hockey free preview, analysis, prediction, odds and pick against the spread.
2021-01-26 19:00:00 EDT
The Florida Panthers and Columbus Blue Jackets meet Tuesday in NHL action at the Nationwide Arena.
The Florida Panthers look for another victory to build on their 2-0 record. The Florida Panthers are averaging five goals per game and are scoring on 37.5 percent of their power play opportunities. Patric Hornqvist leads Florida with three goals, Jonathan Huberdeau has three assists and Aaron Ekblad has eight shots on goal. Defensively, the Florida Panthers are allowing three goals per game and are killing 40 percent of their opponents power plays. Chris Driedger has given up two goals on 29 shots faced and Sergei Bobrovsky has given up four goals on 34 shots.
The Columbus Blue Jackets look for a win to build on their 2-2-2 record. The Columbus Blue Jackets are averaging 2.5 goals per game and are scoring on 7.7 percent of their power play opportunities. Alexandre Texier leads Columbus with three goals, Michael Del Zotto has four assists and Oliver Bjorkstrand has 17 shots on goal. Defensively, the Columbus Blue Jackets are allowing three goals per game and are killing 84.6 percent of their opponents power plays. Joonas Korpisalo has given up seven goals on 108 shots faced and Elvis Merzlikins has allowed 10 goals on 92 shots.
The Panthers are 3-9 in their last 12 games as an underdog. The Blue Jackets are 1-4 in their last 5 home games and 2-7 in their last 9 overall. The over is 4-0-1 in Panthers last 5 overall. The under is 12-5-2 in Blue Jackets last 19 overall. The Panthers are 2-14 in the last 16 meetings in Columbus and 6-20 in the last 26 meetings.
The Florida Panthers haven’t played in a week, but we saw their season delayed and they looked good out of the gate, so an extended break shouldn’t hurt them like it would other teams. The Columbus Blue Jackets have had more downs than ups through six games and the defensive issues at times isn’t what you want to see against an explosive Panthers offense. While both games came against the struggling Blackhawks, the Florida Panthers looked good through two contests. I’ll take the plus money.
