The Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers meet Saturday in NHL action at the FLA Live Arena. The Edmonton Oilers look for a win after winning five of their last seven games. The Florida Panthers look for a win after winning 13 of their last 18 games.
The Edmonton Oilers are averaging 3.3 goals per game and are scoring on 26.9 percent of their power play opportunities. Leon Draisaitl leads Edmonton with 35 goals, Connor McDavid has 45 assists and Darnell Nurse has 153 shots on goal. Defensively, the Edmonton Oilers are allowing 3.3 goals per game and are killing 77.1 percent of their opponent’s power plays. Mikko Koskinen has allowed 85 goals on 839 shots faced, and Stuart Skinner has allowed 32 goals on 367 shots.
The Florida Panthers are averaging 4.1 goals per game and are scoring on 20.8 percent of their power play opportunities. Aleksander Barkov leads Florida with 23 goals, Jonathan Huberdeau has 56 assists and Aaron Ekblad has 155 shots on goal. Defensively, the Florida Panthers are allowing 3 goals per game and are killing 79 percent of their opponent’s power plays. Sergei Bobrovsky has given up 90 goals on 1,085 shots faced, and Spencer Knight has allowed 53 goals on 520 shots.
The Oilers are 4-1 in their last 5 road games and 5-2 in their last 7 overall. The Panthers are 39-12 in their last 51 home games and 35-17 in their last 52 overall. The over is 4-1 in Oilers last 5 overall. The over is 23-8 in Panthers last 31 overall. The Oilers are 10-1 in the last 11 meetings in Florida and 16-7 in the last 23 meetings.
The Edmonton Oilers are a respectable team capable of winning a game like this, but they’ve had little recent success in the underdog role. The Florida Panthers have been a little shaky this week, but they’ve still been a buzz saw at home all year long, and it takes more than a couple of losses to get off the bandwagon. Early odd start, but give me the Panthers and the PL for max betting value.