Oilers vs. Panthers Game 7 Prediction: Stanley Cup Playoff Odds
Every hockey loving kid grows up dreaming of scoring the winning goal in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final and that dream will come true for one player on Monday night in Sunrise, Florida. The Edmonton Oilers have a chance to make history as they look to become the second team ever to win the Stanley Cup after trailing 3-0 in the Final.
Game 7 is a pick’em on the NHL odds, while the total is once again set at 5.5.
Oilers vs. Panthers NHL Betting Odds
It’s a little surprising to see Game 7’s total pegged at 5.5 and not bumped a tick higher. The total has been set at 5.5 for every game this series and the Over has hit in four straight. Bettors have caught on to that trend as 78 per cent of early action is taking the Over again on Monday. It’s a similar split on the moneyline, with 82 per cent of bettors backing Florida.
The only futures market left for the Stanley Cup Final is the Conn Smythe Trophy and the line indicates the race is all, but over. Connor McDavid is a massive -3000 favourite to win the Conn Smythe, which would lead you to believe oddsmakers think he gets the Conn Smythe whether Edmonton wins or loses.
For context, only five players in NHL history have won the Conn Smythe Trophy as a member of the losing team in the Stanley Cup Final (the last was J.S. Giguere in 2003) and just one of those players wasn’t a goalie.
This will be the 18th Game 7 in Stanley Cup Final history, but the first in 79 years to feature a team that has come back from a 3-0 series deficit. The last team to come back from a 3-0 series deficit in the Stanley Cup Final and win the series, however, was the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs.
Edmonton Oilers
Warren Foegele, Adam Henrique and Zach Hyman put the Oilers up 3-0 entering the third period of Game 6 and Ryan McLeod and Darnell Nurse sealed the 5-1 victory with empty-netters. Stuart Skinner stopped 20 of 21 shots faced. On a night when McDavid was held pointless, Edmonton’s depth scoring was the key to victory. The Oilers received goals from all four lines and outpaced Florida despite McDavid going pointless.
You’ve got to think the one-two punch of McDavid and Leon Draisaitl will come alive in Game 7. McDavid’s 42 points (8G, 34A) is fourth-most in NHL history (five back of the record) and he’s averaging 1.83 points per game in the playoffs. Draiaitl has been much quieter in the series with just three assists, but he’s still third in playoff scoring with 31 points (10G, 21A). In Edmonton’s three previous series-clinching games this postseason, McDavid (1G, 3A) and Draisaitl (2G, 2A) each have four points.
A couple of injury notes: Ryan Nugent Hopkins, who has 22 points (7G, 15A) in 24 postseason games, missed Sunday’s practice with an illness, but is expected to play Game 7. Evander Kane, who has four goals and four assists in 20 playoff games, has missed the last four games due to a sports hernia and it seems unlikely the Oilers would change their lineup at this point.
Florida Panthers
Aleksander Barkov scored the Panthers’ lone goal in Game 6 and at +1400, he stands as the only other player who has a shot to win the Conn Smythe over McDavid (every other player is +10,000 or longer). Barkov’s 22 points (8G, 14A) ties him for the team lead with Matthew Tkachuk (6G, 16A). Special teams continued to sink Florida on Friday. The power played went 0-for-3 in the game and they are now 1-for-19 in the series with two short-handed goals against.
Sergei Bobrovsky made 16 saves on 19 shots in Game 6, but there were some questions raised when he missed Sunday’s practice. While it was listed as a maintenance day, there’s some serious concern over the notoriously streaky goalie’s performance over the last three games. From Games 1 to 3, Bobrovsky’s save percentage was a combined .953, while it plummeted to .793 over Games 4 to 6. The Panthers have been outscored by 13 goals over the last three games and given up the first goal in all three games.
But, let’s not pile everything on Bobrovsky. Some of Florida’s best player’s simply haven’t produced well enough. Tkachuk has just two points in the series, Sam Reinhart, who had 57 goals in the regular season, only has a goal and two assists, and Carter Verhaeghe has been limited to one goal with a minus-9 rating.
EDM
FLA