Florida Panthers vs. Carolina Hurricanes Game 2 Prediction, NHL Odds
The Florida Panthers were upset winners in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals at Carolina, but the Hurricanes are -130 home favourites on the NHL odds for Thursday’s Game 2 to even things up. The total is again 5.5 goals.
Panthers vs. Hurricanes NHL Betting Odds
It’s hard to remember any NHL team playing better in back-to-back huge road playoff games than Florida has after a 6-1 blowout win in Toronto in Game 7 of the last round and then Tuesday’s shockingly easy 5-2 win at Carolina in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
On the updated series line, the Panthers are -250 (were -125) and the Hurricanes +200 (were +105). Those are the same prices to win the Eastern Conference. The new favoured exact result is Florida in six at +333. On the series games prop, six is also the leader at +200. I still like seven, now priced +220, but not if Carolina loses again at home Thursday.
That at least one game goes to overtime is the +135 favourite, and I do think at least one goes that far, while that there are no shutouts its -145, and I’d lean that way.
Florida is 9-1 all-time in a best-of-seven series when taking a 1-0 lead and 6-0 when starting said series on the road. The team is 4-7 all-time in road Game 2s. Carolina is 6-11 in a series it trails 1-0 and 3-3 when starting said series at home. The Hurricanes are a stellar 14-4 in home Game 2s.
No player had multiple goals in Game 1. The current co-favourites to score at least two in any remaining game of the series are Carolina’s Sebastian Aho and Andrei Svechnikov at +210. Those two, teammate Seth Jarvis and Florida’s Sam Reinhart are all +1800 favourites to have a hat trick. Aho is the +450 leader to lead the series in total goals.
Florida Panthers
Since falling down 2-0 to Toronto in the last round, the Panthers have looked nothing short of worthy of repeating as Stanley Cup champions at 5-1 overall and 3-0 on the road, outscoring their opponents 17-4 away following Tuesday’s 5-2 victory in Raleigh. The Cats got goals from five different players: Carter Verhaeghe (fifth of playoffs), Aaron Ekblad (third), A.J. Greer (second), Sam Bennett (seventh) and Euto Luostarinen (fourth). Bennett became the third Panthers player to score seven-plus goals in consecutive postseasons, joining Verhaeghe and Sam Reinhart.
Florida was 2-for-3 with the man advantage. It has scored at least three goals in six straight playoff road games, the second-longest run in franchise history behind a seven-game stretch in 2023. The Panthers’ 38 goals through their first eight road games of the playoffs has tied the 2022 Avalanche for the most such in history. That Colorado team won the Cup. Sergei Bobrovsky was the No. 1 star on Tuesday with 33 saves. The Russian passed Gerry Cheevers (53) and tied Terry Sawchuk (54) for 19th place in wins in Stanley Cup playoff history. Florida has now won five straight playoff games vs. the Hurricanes dating to the sweep of the 2023 East Finals.
Carolina Hurricanes
Former Maple Leaf Frederik Andersen of the Hurricanes had been the most dominant goalie in these playoffs but allowed all five goals on just 20 shots in the Game 1 loss. He hadn’t allowed more than two goals in a game this postseason. The Hurricanes got goals from Sebastian Aho (fourth of playoffs) and Jackson Blake (third). Aho scored his fifth career goal in series-opening games, tied for the most in Hurricanes/Whalers history. Seth Jarvis had an assist, stretching his point streak to a playoff career-best five games (2G, 4A).
And a lot did go well in the loss as Carolina outshot Florida 33-20, outhit the Panthers 49-48 and dominated the face-off circle in winning 60 per cent of draws. But the penalty kill was not good in allowing two goals on three power-play chances. The Hurricanes’ PK had stopped 14 of 15 power plays at home and 28 of 30 overall in the playoffs entering Game 1. The team was without centre Mark Jankowski and defenceman Jalen Chatfield due to injury, but neither is a huge contributor. Carolina hasn’t lost back-to-back games in these playoffs. It hadn’t lost at home before Game 1.
FLA
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