Sports Betting Overview
Last season, the Florida Panthers and the Colorado Avalanche were not even factors in the playoff race. Both teams finished at or near the bottom of their divisions and missed the playoffs by several points. This year it is a much different story for both teams. The Florida Panthers still sit at the top of the Southeast Division while the Colorado Avalanche is only two points out of a playoff spot in the Western Conference. The frustrating thing for the Avalanche is that it is in the much tougher Western Conference, which means that the Panthers lead its division with 50 points while the Avalanche’s 48 points are only good enough for 10th place in the Western Conference.
Despite the improvements of both teams, the price per head sports experts still do not give either team much of a chance to win the Stanley Cup this season. The Avalanche is being given 65 to 1 odds on winning the Cup and the Panthers is said to have a 75 to 1 chance to win the hardware. So this game is hardly a battle of two NHL powerhouses. But the Panthers continue to establish its dominance in the Southeast Division, but hold on to the division lead by only four points. Every win is critical to the Florida Panthers.
Colorado Avalanche
The Avalanche is 6-3-1 in its last 10 games. Even though the Avalanche let goaltender Craig Anderson go and replaced him with Semyon Varlamov, the goals against situation is not getting any better in Colorado. According to the price per head bookie experts, Varlamov does have a 2.90 goals against average this season and he is 4-1-0 in his last five starts. But backup JS Giguere has been getting a lot of work lately, and his play has been suspect as of late. Even with his impressive 2.14 goals against average, Giguere is 2-2-1 in his last five starts and has consistently been allowing four goals a night as of late. The Avalanche needs its goaltending to pick up the pace if it wants to get back into the playoff race.
Florida Panthers
The Panthers are 4-4-2 in its last 10 games and have been able to maintain the division lead thanks to some timely goal scoring. But the Panthers are not a prominent scoring team and it does not necessarily play great defense. A sportsbook review of the Panthers’ season shows a team that just knows how to win games in tight situations. The Panthers will not outscore a team and it will also not win any intense goaltending battles. But Florida has been able to string together wins in bunches based solely on its ability to stay close in tight games. The problem for Florida is that it has a tendency to get blown out every once in a while and that usually happens on the road.
The Bottom Line
It has been a while since the NHL fans in Miami have had something to cheer about. But with this game being in Colorado, and given the way that the Panthers have been playing lately, it just looks like the Panthers are do to drop another road game by a big score.
Pick: Colorado Avalanche
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.