Chicago Blackhawks vs. Florida Panthers Prediction, NHL Odds
The Florida Panthers host the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday night, kicking off a season-opening triple-header at Amerant Bank Arena.
The Panthers will begin the campaign by raising a championship banner for a second straight year, but must begin their defence of last season’s Stanley Cup victory missing several key veterans from the lineup including Matthew Tkachuk, Aleksander Barkov, and Aaron Ekblad.
The Blackhawks hope to embark on the road back to respectability after closing out last season in eighth place in the Central Division for a third year in a row.
The Panthers are set to hit the ice on opening night perched as -285 favourites on the Tuesday NHL odds. The Blackhawks trail +230 underdogs, and the total is set at 5.5.
Blackhawks vs. Panthers NHL Betting Odds
The Panthers will be aiming to extend their win streak in home openers to six games when they hit the ice on Tuesday afternoon. Florida has also dominated the Blackhawks on home ice in recent years, claiming victory in eight straight meetings, but have failed to record overall consecutive wins over Chicago in six clashes since 2002.
Overall, the Panthers recorded 47 wins last season on their way to a third-place finish in the Atlantic Division, and are pegged as a -115 bet to top 99.5 points this season. But with Barkov likely gone for the season and Tkachuk out indefinitely, the Panthers open the campaign well off the pace on the Stanley Cup odds as a +1100 bet.
The Blackhawks have nowhere to go but up after a third straight last-place finish. In addition to claiming the basement in the Central Division, the Blackhawks also finished ahead of only the San Jose Sharks with just 10 road victories last season, but showed signs of turning things around while closing out their schedule with three straight away victories.
Expectations for the upcoming season remain tempered, with the Blackhawks sporting -125 odds to record OVER 67.5 points, and are a +200 bet to finish dead last in the NHL league standings.
Chicago Blackhawks
Patience will once again be demanded of long-suffering hockey fans in the Windy City as the NHL regular season gets underway. That was evident during the NHL preseason, with the Blackhawks falling to defeat in four of six contests, and scoring just three total goals while losing at home in each of their final three outings.
However, the club’s current stretch of futility has enabled it to add some top-end youngsters to the lineup. Connor Bedard remains the key to the Chicago attack. The former first-overall pick led the team in scoring last season with 67 points, and closed out the schedule on a four-game points streak that generated three goals and four assists.
However, Bedard failed to earn a point in two dates with the Panthers last season after potting three goals versus Florida in his rookie campaign.
Florida Panthers
Without Barkov and Tkachuk in the lineup, the Panthers will need to find offensive contributions from up and down the lineup. While the duo both endured injury-shortened regular seasons last year, they still managed to pot a combined 42 goals and were among the team’s top three power play goal scorers.
That adds to the pressure on Sam Reinhart, who led the club with 39 markers in 2024-25, and Carter Verhaege, who took a step back last season, scoring 20 times after potting 76 total goals over the previous two seasons.
A late addition to the lineup last season, Brad Marchand will be expected to assume more a leadership role this time around. Marchand recorded 23 goals and 28 helpers in 71 games last season, but the 37-year-old likely offers more value on the NHL player props as a -115 bet to record UNDER 54.5 points this season.
Despite all those concerns, look for the Panthers to once again reward their hometown fans with a decisive season-opening victory on Tuesday evening.
