The Ottawa Senators and the Florida Panthers meet in NHL action from the FLA Live Arena on Saturday afternoon.
The Ottawa Senators will look to rebound from a 4-2 loss to Minnesota last time out that snapped a four-game win streak. Brady Tkachuk leads the Sens with 10 points split between a team-high 5 goals and 5 assists while Drake Batherson also has 10 points with 3 goals and a team-high 7 assists as well this season. Alex DeBrincat has 8 points with 6 assists while Shane Pinto, Tim Stutzle and Tyler Motte each have 6 points with Pinto logging 5 goals while Stutzle has 5 assists and Motte has a pair of goals with 4 helpers as well. Anton Forsberg’s gone 3-3 with a 2.86 GAA and a .908 save percentage in goal for Ottawa so far this season.
The Florida Panthers will hope to rebound from back-to-back losses after their 4-3 loss to Philadelphia last time out. Matthew Tkachuk has a team-high 10 points with 4 goals and 6 assists while Colin White has 7 points with 5 assists. Gustav Forslin and Eetu Luostarinen each have 6 points with Forsling logging 4 assist while Luostarinen’s points are split between 3 goals and 3 assists. Sergei Bobrovsky has posted a 2-3-1 record with a 3.06 GAA and an .897 save percentage while Spencer Knight is 2-0 with a 2.50 GAA and a .906 save percentage in goal for Florida this season.
Ottawa is 4-1 in their last 5 games overall and 53-129 in their last 182 road games while the under is 23-11-3 in their last 37 games against the Eastern Conference. Florida is 48-23 in their last 71 games overall and 50-14 in their last 64 home games while the under is 6-1-1 in their last 8 games against a team with a winning record.
I get the case to be made for Florida as a big favorite at home, but the only way to get any sort of value with the Panthers is to take them -1.5 and the Panthers have yet to win a home game by two or more goals this season. The Senators are a far more attractive team at home, but they’re still a solid bunch that’s playing with confidence in spots and are 5-2 on the puck line on the year. I’ll take a shot with Ottawa +1.5 here.