The Florida Panthers and the Edmonton Oilers meet Saturday in Game 4 NHL Stanley Cup Finals action from Rogers Place. Here’s a Panthers vs. Oilers prediction.
Game Three Recap: Panthers Get Within One Win Of First Title
The Florida Panthers pushed themselves to within one victory of the first Stanley Cup Win in franchise history, taking a 3-0 series lead with a 4-3 win in game three last time out. Sam Reinhart opened the scoring for Florida with just over a minute to go in the opening frame before Warren Foegele tied the game at one just 1:49 into the second period. Vladimir Tarasenko restored Florida’s lead at the 9:12 mark of the second before Sam Bennett and Aleksander Barkov scored 1:34 apart to push Florida’s lead to 4-1 before the end of the second. Philip Broberg pulled one back for Edmonton just over six minutes into the 3rd and Ryan McLeod made it a one-goal game with 5:17 to play, but that’s as close as the Oilers would get as the Panthers slammed the door shut the rest of the way to take the commanding series lead. Sergei Bobrovsky got the win after stopping 32 of 35 shots faced in the win while Stuart Skinner ended up with the loss after allowing 4 goals on 23 shots faced in defeat.
Florida Panthers Player Stats
Sam Reinhart leads the Panthers in scoring with 94 points including a team-high 57 goals and 37 assists while Aleksander Barkov has 80 points with 23 goals and 57 assists. Carter Verhaeghe has 72 points with 34 goals and 38 assists while Matthew Tkachuk has 88 points with 62 assists of his own this season. Sergei Bobrovsky has posted a 36-17-4 mark with a 2.37 GAA and .915 save percentage in goal for Florida this season while Anthony Stolarz is 16-7-2 with a 2.03 GAA and a .925 save percentage this season.
Why the Florida Panthers will win
- The Panthers have won each of their last six games.
- The Oilers have lost each of their last three games as favorites against Atlantic Division opponents.
- The Panthers have covered the puck line in 14 of their last 15 games as underdogs.
- The Oilers have failed to cover the puck line in nine of their last 10 games against Atlantic Division opponents.
- The Panthers have won the second period in each of their last four games against Pacific Division opponents.
Edmonton Oilers Player Stats
Connor McDavid leads the Oilers in scoring with 132 points including a team-high 100 assists while Leon Draisaitl has 106 points with 41 goals and 65 assists. Zach Hyman has 77 points with a team-high 54 goals while Evan Bouchard has 82 points with 18 goals and 64 assists as well. Evander Kane has 44 points with 24 goals and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has 67 points with 49 assists this season. Stuart Skinner is 36-16-5 with a 2.62 GAA and a .905 save percentage while Calvin Pickard is 12-7-1 with a 2.45 GAA and a .909 save percentage this season.
Why the Edmonton Oilers will win
- The Oilers have won each of their last five Game 4s of a playoff series.
- The Panthers have failed to cover the puck line in eight of their last nine night games following a road win.
- The Oilers have covered the puck line in three of their last four games following a home loss.
- The Oilers have won the third period in each of their last five games as favorites against opponents on a winning streak.
Panthers vs. Oilers Prediction
I’m on the Panthers here. It just feels like the Panthers want it more and have been the better team in this series. Edmonton did well to get to this point and it’s a shame that the series has been as one-sided as it has been, but the problem for Edmonton is that the key guys like McDavid and Draisaitl have been non-factors and the depth pieces for Edmonton aren’t good enough to shoulder the load if those guys aren’t leading the charge. Florida’s the much deeper team and we’re seeing that depth pay off in spades. I’m taking the Panthers to complete the sweep.