The Vegas Golden Knights and Florida Panthers meet Thursday in game 3 of the NHL Stanley Cup Final at the FLA Live Arena. Let’s preview this game and give out a pick and prediction.

Vegas Golden Knights Betting Preview 

The Vegas Golden Knights are averaging 3.89 goals per game and are scoring on 21.5 percent of their power play opportunities. Jonathan Marchessault leads Vegas with 12 goals, Jack Eichel has 16 assists and Reilly Smith has 45 shots on goal. Defensively, the Vegas Golden Knights are allowing 2.58 goals per game and are killing 67.9 percent of their opponent’s power plays. Laurent Brossoit has given up 23 goals on 216 shots faced, and Adin Hill has allowed 25 goals on 399 shots.

Florida Panthers Betting Preview 

The Florida Panthers are averaging 3.00 goals per game and are scoring on 24 percent of their power play opportunities. Matthew Tkachuk leads Florida with 10 goals, Aleksander Barkov has 10 assists and Brandon Montour has 67 shots on goal. Defensively, the Florida Panthers are allowing 3.06 goals per game and are killing 69.8 percent of their opponent’s power plays. Alex Lyon has given up 12 goals on 107 shots faced, and Sergei Bobrovsky has allowed 41 goals on 550 shots.

Trends

The Golden Knights are 7-2 in their last 9 road games and 36-15 in their last 51 overall. The Panthers are 75-34 in their last 109 home games and 11-3 in their last 14 overall. The over is 4-0 in Golden Knights last 4 overall. The under is 8-3 in Panthers last 11 overall. The Golden Knights are 1-4 in the last 5 meetings in Florida and 4-1 in the last 5 meetings. The home team is 11-1 in the last 12 meetings. The favorite is 4-0 in the last 4 meetings.

Randy’s Pick

It’s easy to fall in love with the Vegas Golden Knights and the even money, and I wouldn’t talk you off the ledge if looking in that direction. Vegas has badly outplayed the Panthers through 2 games and is simply good enough to look at whenever getting the more favorable price. However, the Panthers have been one of the better home teams in the league dating back to last season. The home team has won 11 of the last 12 meetings between these clubs. Also, the Panthers showed fight in the third period of game 2, not only with the fighting game, but they scored a pair of goals as well. Maybe that has some carry over. Pretty much a must win for the Panthers. I’ll lay the small chalk, as Florida crawls back into this series.