Ottawa Senators vs. Florida Panthers Prediction, NHL Odds
Playoff hopes might be lost for Brady and the Ottawa Senators, but they have a chance to spoil the fun for Matthew and the Florida Panthers.
The Panthers are sitting in a wildcard spot for the first time all season, holding just a single point lead on the Pittsburgh Penguins. At the same time, the Senators are looking to shake a three-game losing streak.
The Panthers are listed as the -254 favourite to win on the NHL odds with the total sitting at 7.
Senators vs. Panthers NHL Betting Odds
Thursday will be the third and final installment of the season series between the Sens and Cats, with each team taking a win on home ice. The winner has covered the spread in both cases, while they have combined for at least seven goals in both head-to-heads. The favourite has taken the win in four of their past five matchups and the Over is 5-3-1 in their past nine.
As far as the brothers go, well they have both scored six goals when playing against their sibling, but Brady has put up 11 points while his elder, Matthew has scored 18.
The Senators covered in their most recent contest, after failing to do so in each of their previous four. The team still has a 44-34 record ATS on the season despite being a club with a win percentage just above the .500 mark. Four of their past six games have played the Over due to bad defensive play. Ottawa has given up four goals or more in three of those matchups, bringing their record on the Over/Under to 37-40-1.
The Panthers have tightened their game defensively as they attempt to roll into the playoffs, holding opponents to two goals or less in each of their past three games. Their Achilles heel this season was their inability to keep the puck out of their net, sitting in the top 10 for goals against. On the total, they have posted a 1-1-3 record over the past five with a total of seven in each outing. Florida has only covered the spread twice in their past six taking the win in both of those contests.
Ottawa Senators
Ottawa’s comeback fell a bit short in Tuesday night’s 3-2 overtime loss against the Carolina Hurricanes. The Canes opened the scoring just over a minute into the game and would add another before the end of the first period to put themselves up 2-0. Veteran forward Claude Giroux got the ball rolling for Ottawa scoring his 30th goal of the season at the midway point of the game. Giroux has hit the 30-goal plateau for just the second time in his 16-year NHL career. Captain Brady Tkachuk (35) would then tie the game with a powerplay marker with three minutes left in regulation to send the game to extra time.
In his NHL debut, 20-year-old Leevi Merilainen stopped 34 of 37 shots and was solid for two full periods after allowing a pair in the first. It has been a disastrous season for the Sens with injuries, making Merilainen the franchise record seventh goalie to appear in their net. He will serve as the backup to Cam Talbot until another netminder can return.
Florida Panthers
The Panthers extended their win streak to four games on Tuesday night, sneaking out a narrow 2-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres and moving themselves a point ahead of the Pittsburgh Penguins for a spot in the wildcard.
Aaron Ekblad blasted home his 13th of the season on the powerplay in the first period tying the game at 1-1. Ekblad is having his worst offensive season in six seasons with just 35 points (13G 22A) through 67 games. Just a minute into the third, Matthew Tkachuk tipped home his 39th goal of the year and the Panthers held onto that lead for the win. Tkachuk is about to break his career high in points (104) set last season in Calgary sitting at 103 with four games to go.
Florida has been riding the hot hand in goal, going with Alex Lyon in each of their past four wins. He was a huge piece in Tuesday’s victory stopping 39 of 40 shots, bringing his record to 7-3-1 on the year. With three teams battling for two wildcard spots, each with the same number of games remaining, the Panthers can control their destiny by winning out to confirm their spot.
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