The Florida Panthers and the Carolina Hurricanes meet Thursday in NHL action from the Lenovo Center. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best bets for this game. Here’s a Hurricanes vs Panthers Prediction.
Series Recap
The Florida Panthers drew first blood in the series and stole home ice with a 5-2 win over the Hurricanes in game one. Carter Verhaeghe opened the scoring for the Panthers 8:30 into the game on the power play before Aaron Ekblad doubled Florida’s lead less than four minutes later. Sebastian Aho got the Hurricanes on the board in the dying seconds of the first but A.J. Greer would restore Florida’s two-goal lead with the lone goal of the second period. Sam Bennett pushed the lead to 4-1 for Florida on the power play 6:08 into the 3rd and Eetu Luostarinen made it 5-1 for Florida with just over five minutes to go. Jackson Blake scored a consolation goal for Carolina just 1:24 later, but that’s as close as the Hurricanes would get as the Panthers would slam the door shut on Carolina and open the series with a win.
Panthers Looking To Take 2-0 Lead Going Back Home
Sam Reinhart has a team-high 81 points including 39 goals and 42 assists while Sam Bennett has 51 points with 25 goals and 26 assists and Anton Lundell has 45 points of his own with 17 goals and 28 assists. Aleksander Barkov also has 71 points with 51 assists of his own while Carter Verhaeghe has 53 points with 20 goals and 33 assists and Matthew Tkachuk has 57 points with 22 goals and 35 assists. Sergei Bobrovsky is 33-19-2 with a 2.44 GAA and a .906 save percentage in goal for Florida this season. Vitek Vanecek is also 2-4-1 with a 3.00 GAA and an .890 save percentage in goal for the Panthers this year.
Why the Florida Panthers will win
- The Hurricanes have lost each of their last five games as favorites against Atlantic Division opponents.
- The underdogs have won each of the last four games between the Panthers and Hurricanes.
- The Hurricanes have failed to cover the puck line in each of their last seven games against Atlantic Division opponents.
- The underdogs have covered the puck line in 11 of the last 12 games between the Panthers and Hurricanes.
Florida Panthers Player Prop Facts
- Sam Bennett has scored a goal in each of the Panthers’ last four playoff games against Metropolitan Division opponents.
- Eetu Luostarinen has recorded at least one point in each of the Panthers’ last six road playoff games.
- Sam Reinhart has recorded at least one assist in each of the Panthers’ last seven Thursday games.
- Aleksander Barkov ranks T1st in the league for shootout goals (4) this season.
Hurricanes Looking To Even Up Set
Sebastian Aho leads Carolina with 74 points with 29 goals and 45 assists while Andrei Svechnikov has 48 points with 20 goals and 28 assists. Jack Roslovic has 39 points with 22 goals while Shayne Gostisbehere’s added 45 points with 7 goals and 38 assists. Seth Jarvis has also chipped in 67 points with a team-high 32 goals as well this season. Pyotr Kochetkov has gone 27-16-3 with a 2.60 GAA and an .898 save percentage in goal for Carolina so far this year while Frederik Andersen is 13-8-1 with a 2.50 GAA and an .899 save percentage on the year. Spencer Martin has also gone 3-4-1 with a 3.89 GAA and an .846 save percentage and Dustin Tokarski’s 4-2 with a 2.18 GAA and a .902 save percentage this season.
Why the Carolina Hurricanes will win
- The Hurricanes have won each of their last 14 games at Lenovo Center following a loss.
- The Panthers have lost three of their last four games following a road win.
- The Hurricanes have covered the puck line in each of their last four games at Lenovo Center following a loss.
- The Panthers have failed to cover the puck line in five of their last six games against Metropolitan Division opponents.
Carolina Hurricanes Player Prop Facts
- Seth Jarvis has scored at least one goal in each of the Hurricanes’ last six Thursday home games.
- Sebastian Aho has recorded at least one assist in each of the Hurricanes’ last eight Game 2s of a playoff series.
- Seth Jarvis has recorded at least one point in each of the Hurricanes’ last 14 night games at Lenovo Center.
- Jackson Blake ranks 2nd amongst rookies for Plus/Minus (+10) this season.
Total Goals Facts
- Each of the Hurricanes’ last six home games against the Panthers following a loss have gone UNDER the total goals line.
- Each of the Panthers’ last six road games have gone OVER the total goals line.
Hurricanes vs Panthers Prediction
I’m on the Hurricanes in this one. I think that the Hurricanes can ill afford to go down 0-2 in this series with a pair of games in Florida on the horizon. The Hurricanes have sent a message in this series that they’re not going to be rattled by Florida’s physical antics and I think the Hurricanes bounce back here.