The Florida Panthers and New York Rangers meet Wednesday in Game 1 of the NHL Eastern Conference Finals at Madison Square Garden. Here’s a NY Rangers vs Florida Panthers Prediction.
Florida Panthers Betting Preview
The Florida Panthers are coming off a 6-game series with the Boston Bruins and will play for the first time in 5 days. The Panthers are 4-1 on the road in these NHL playoffs. The Florida Panthers are averaging 3.55 goals per game and are scoring on 22 percent of their power play opportunities. Carter Verhaeghe leads Florida with 6 goals, Matthew Tkachuk has 10 assists and Sam Reinhart has 48 shots on goal. Defensively, the Florida Panthers are allowing 2.45 goals per game and are killing 86.1 percent of their opponent’s power plays. Sergei Bobrovsky has allowed 26 goals on 264 shots faced.
New York Rangers Betting Preview
The New York Rangers are coming off a 6-game series with the Carolina Hurricanes and will play for the first time in 6 days. The Rangers are 4-1 at home in these NHL playoffs. The New York Rangers are averaging 3.5 goals per game and are scoring on 31.4 percent of their power play opportunities. Chris Kreider leads New York with 7 goals, Mika Zibanejad has 11 assists, and Vincent Trocheck has 30 shots on goal. Defensively, the New York Rangers are allowing 2.6 goals per game and are killing 89.5 percent of their opponent’s power plays. Igor Shesterkin has allowed 25 goals on 324 shots faced.
NY Rangers vs Florida Panthers Injury Report
The Florida Panthers don’t have any player on their injury report entering game 1. The NY Rangers will continue to be without Blake Wheeler due to a lower body injury. Filip Chytil is day to day for the Rangers due to an illness, but he did practice this week, so there’s good news for New York.
Why the Florida Panthers will win
- The Panthers have won each of their last 10 games as road favorites against Metropolitan Division opponents.
- The road team has covered the puck line in each of the last four games between the Panthers and Rangers.
- The Panthers have won the second period in each of their last five games as road favorites.
New York Rangers Player Prop Facts
- Chris Kreider has scored at least one goal in each of the Rangers’ last five games as home underdogs against the Panthers.
- Mika Zibanejad has recorded at least one assist in 15 of the Rangers’ last 16 games.
- Artemi Panarin has recorded at least one point in each of the Rangers’ last 10 games as underdogs against Atlantic Division opponents.
- Artemi Panarin ranks 1st in the Metropolitan Division for shootout goals (4) this season.
Florida Panthers Player Prop Facts
- Matthew Tkachuk has scored the last goal in three of the Panthers’ last four playoff games against Metropolitan Division opponents.
- Sam Reinhart has scored at least one goal in 10 of the Panthers’ last 12 games as road favorites against Metropolitan Division opponents.
- Aleksander Barkov has recorded at least one assist in each of the Panthers’ last five games as road favorites against the Rangers.
- Aleksander Barkov has recorded at least one point in each of his last six appearances at Madison Square Garden.
- Sam Reinhart ranks 1st in the league for Power Play Goals (27) this season.
Matchup/League Facts
- The New York Rangers rank 3rd in the league in penalty kill percentage this season (84.48%).
- The New York Rangers rank 4th in the league in power play percentage this season (26.42%).
- The Florida Panthers rank T1st in the league for goals against per game this season (2.41).
- The Florida Panthers rank 6th in the league in penalty kill percentage this season (82.47%).
NY Rangers vs Florida Panthers Prediction
A true pick em line in a series opener, you can make a strong case for the Rangers at home, where they’re 34-12-0 on the season. The Rangers have also won 6 of the last 9 games against the Panthers. The home team has also won 7 of the last 10 games between the Rangers and Panthers.
With all that said, the line is a pick em for a reason and I don’t think it’s farfetched to say the Panthers are the more talented team, and they’re the betting favorite to win the series. The Panthers have also played some of their best hockey on the road in these playoffs, where they’re 4-1 through 5 games. The Panthers are 30-12-4 on the road overall. I’ll side with the Panthers in game 1 against the Rangers.