The Edmonton Oilers are on the road at the Florida Panthers on Monday in Game 2 of the best of 7 Stanley Cup Finals series. The Panthers lead the series 1-0 following a 3-0 blanking of the Oilers on Saturday.
The Edmonton Oilers are the representatives from the Western Conference. Edmonton went 49-27-6 in the regular season. The Oilers finished second in the Pacific Division. In the postseason, the Oilers have eliminated the Los Angeles Kings, Vancouver Canucks and Dallas Stars.
For the Florida Panthers, they went 52-24-6 in the regular season. The Panthers won the final four games of the regular season to win the Atlantic Division. The Panthers have knocked off Tampa Bay, Boston and New York in the postseason.
The Florida Panthers are -140 in this game at home. The total for this affair is set at 5.5 goals.
Edmonton Needs some Offense
The 3-0 loss on Saturday was the first shut-out of the postseason for the Kings. It was also the first time they were shut-out since April 3rd in Dallas. The Oilers were one of the top scoring teams in all of the NHL. Edmonton scored 3.56 goals per game, and took nearly 34 shots per game.
In the regular season, Zach Hyman was the top scorer for the Oilers. He scored 54 goals. Connor McDavid was terrific, with 100 assists, and also 32 goals scored. The Oilers have not skipped a beat in the postseason, with 31 points in 19 games from McDavid, and Hyman leading with 14 goals.
Goaltender Stuart Skinner has gone 11-6-0 in the postseason. Skinner has allowed 2.47 goals per game. In 17 games, he has 364 saves on the season. The Oilers defense got better as the season went along. In the end, they allowed 2.88 goals per game.
Panthers Look Great as of Late
Florida looked great in the Game 1 win, and have now won four straight games. After back to back losses to the Rangers, the Panthers have outscored their opponents 11-5 in those games. The Panthers picked up goals from Connor Verhaeghe, Evan Rodrigues and Eetu Luostarinen. Verhaeghe now has 10 in the postseason.
Matthew Tkachuk and Alexsander Barkov are the top point getters for Florida. They both have 19 so far. Verhaeghe is next with 18, followed by Sam Reinhart, with 13. The Panthers during the regular season scored 3.23 goals per game, but allowed just 2.41. That is tied for first defensively.
The Panthers have used goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky in every game in the postseason thus far. He has started 18 games, and won 13 of them. He is allowing just 2.08 goals per game in the postseason..
Panthers Stay Hot in Sunrise
We like the Florida Panthers to stay hot and win this game. The Panthers are going to go up 2-0 in the series with a win at home. The Panthers are playing great hockey, and there is very little that can be done to slow them down. In the end, we are betting the Florida Panthers -140 over the Edmonton Oilers.
