The Philadelphia Flyers and the Florida Panthers meet Thursday in NHL action from the Amerant Bank Arena. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best bets for this game. Here’s a Philadelphia Flyers vs. Florida Panthers prediction.
Philadelphia Flyers Team Preview
The Philadelphia Flyers come into the 2025-26 season looking to bounce back after a frustrating showing in 2024-25, finishing the year with a record of 33-39-10, finishing dead last in the Metropolitan division and missing the playoffs for the 5th consecutive season. The Flyers look like a team with a ton of youth and potential, especially if you look at their top line as Trevor Zegras comes over after a failed tenure in Anaheim to lineup alongside Matvei Michkov, who many project as the next great young Russian goalscorer. Michkov logged 63 points and 27 goals in his NHL debut and any progression will come from sharing more top line time with Travis Konecny, who is back after leading the team in scoring with 76 points for the 5th time in the last six seasons. Travis Sanheim is back to lead Philadelphia’s defensive groupings while the goaltending tandem of Samuel Ersson and the newly-acquired Dan Vladar make up a less than imposing pairing in goal for the Flyers this upcoming season.
Why the Philadelphia Flyers will win
- The Flyers have won each of their last seven season openers as underdogs.
- The Panthers have lost five of their last six games as home favorites against opponents on a losing streak.
- The Flyers have covered the puck line in each of their last 11 road openers.
- The Panthers have failed to cover the puck line in six of their last seven home games against opponents on a losing streak.
Philadelphia Flyers Player Prop Facts
- Garnet Hathaway has scored a goal in four of the Flyers’ last five games against the Panthers.
- Travis Konecny has recorded at least one assist in five of the Flyers’ last six night games.
- Trevor Zegras has recorded a point in seven of his last eight appearances with his team as an underdog against Eastern Conference opponents.
Florida Panthers Recap
The Florida Panthers will try to keep the puck rolling in the right direction after starting their next title defense with a 3-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks last time out to start the year at 1-0. After this game, Florida will take on the Ottawa Senators in a matchup at home.
Panthers Narrowly Edge Blackhawks In Opener
The Panthers fell behind just past the midway point of the first period but A.J. Greer would tie the game at one just 1:03 later and Carter Verhaeghe would give the Panthers the lead just 3:02 after that. Chicago would tie things up at two with the lone goal of the middle period before Jesper Boqvist gave Florida the lead for good just before the midway point of the third period. It would get dicey, but Florida would hold on for the season-opening W to get the title defense started on the right note. Sergei Bobrovsky would get the win for Florida after stopping 17 of the 19 shots faced in the winning effort to start the year 1-0.
Why the Florida Panthers will win
- The Flyers have lost each of their last eight road games against Atlantic Division opponents.
- The Panthers have won each of their last eight home games against the Flyers following a home win.
- The Panthers have covered the puck line in five of their last six games against Eastern Conference opponents.
Florida Panthers Player Prop Facts
- Sam Reinhart has scored the first goal in each of his last three home appearances against Metropolitan Division opponents.
- Sam Reinhart has scored at least one goal in each of his last four home appearances against Metropolitan Division opponents.
- Sam Reinhart has recorded at least one point in each of his last 10 appearances with the Panthers as favorites against Metropolitan Division opponents.
- Aleksander Barkov has recorded at least one assist in six of the Panthers’ last seven home games against Metropolitan Division opponents.
- Mackie Samoskevich ranks T1st in the league for multi-point game (1) this season.
Total Goals Facts
- Each of the Flyers’ last five road games against opponents on a winning streak have gone UNDER the total goals line.
- Ten of the Panthers’ last 12 home night games following a home win have gone UNDER the total goals line.
Philadelphia Flyers vs. Florida Panthers Prediction
I’m on the Panthers here. I don’t love it because of the price, but at the end of the day I do think the Panthers are heads and shoulders the better team. I just think that although there could be a couple of games as a bit of a slower start to the season as Florida acclimatizes to life without Aleksander Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk, the Flyers aren’t a team that I expect to threaten Florida here as the Flyers just have one of the least fearsome goalie tandems in the entire NHL. I think Florida gets it done here so give me the Panthers.