Do the Panthers remain the No. 1 team in the East?
A duel of opposites awaits us in the NHL on Saturday when the New Jersey Devils host the Florida Panthers. While the Panthers are the best team in the Eastern Conference, the Devils are in the bottom three.
That has also been evident in recent weeks. The Panthers won seven of their last ten games, while the Devils lost seven, including an 8-1 defeat at the Boston Bruins on Thursday. A duel of equals certainly looks different.
Another thing can be read from the last results: a tendency to clear results. This is true for both teams, as the Panthers also had results like 6:3 (against the Flyers) or 7:4 (against the Canadiens) in their programme recently.
Thus, over-points are again likely for Saturday, which means that our forecast for New Jersey vs. Florida is a high-scoring game with the Panthers winning. They would further cement their first place in the East.
New Jersey Devils – Statistics & current form
1:8 was the result against the Boston Bruins on Thursday and this was not the first defeat for the Devils this season. In mid-March there were even three 3:6 losses in a row against the Canucks, Flames and Oilers.
Those eight goals against Boston also reflect New Jersey’s defensive weakness. If we look at their last eight games, they conceded a total of 39 goals, which gives them an average of almost 4.9 goals per game. That makes winning very difficult indeed.
Goalies below average
With so many goals conceded, the focus is naturally also on the goalies, and not without good reason in this case. With save percentages of 89.4% (Daws) and 88.5% (Gillies), the Devils have one of the weaker duos in the NHL.
Especially since they defend not badly at all with 31.2 shots against per game and only allow the 20th most shots there. It makes you wonder if New Jersey shouldn’t do something about that position for the new season.
Matchup doesn’t suit the Devils
Against the most goal-hungry team in the entire NHL now on Saturday, the conditions aren’t exactly the best. It would be a surprise if they didn’t concede at least four goals again against Florida – tendency more.
Thus, for Devils vs. Panthers a tip on Florida is our clear betting recommendation and for a better value we would clearly combine it with over 5.5 total goals. This should be achieved in any case in the duel top forward against vulnerable defence.
Key Players:
G: Jon Gillies
D: Jonas Siegenthaler
D: Dougie Hamilton
LW: Yegor Sharangovich
C: Jack Hughes
RW: Dawson Mercer
Florida Panthers – Statistics & current form
The Panthers are firing from all guns. They average 37.2 shots per game, which is much more than any other team in the league. The second-placed Flames are already 1.4 shots behind. So it’s no wonder that Florida scores so often.
With 4.06 goals per game, they lead this statistic very dominantly. Here, too, the second-placed team (Avalanche) is already 0.3 goals behind, which is a small world by NHL standards. The Panthers’ last two victims were Montréal and Chicago.
Offensive strength not at the expense of defence
With such an offensive style of play, one would think that it would also affect their defence and the Panthers would concede a lot of hits. However, this is not the case and defensively they are also among the top 12 teams with only 2.85 goals conceded per game.
Their good balance is also evident in their goal differential, where they have the best in the league at +80. Compared to their upcoming opponents from New Jersey (-43), this is a world of difference. For this reason alone, betting on Florida already makes sense – even with a handicap.
Choose between handicap and over points betting
There are several bets to choose from for Saturday. On the one hand bets on Florida -2, on the other hand a combination of win Florida + Over 5.5 total goals. We’re leaning towards the second option, as Devils vs Panthers odds are as high as 2.42 on it.
Key Players:
G: Sergei Bobrovsky
D: Mackenzie Weegar
D: Aaron Ekblad
LW: Carter Verhaeghe
C: Aleksander Barkov
RW: Anthony Duclair
New Jersey Devils – Florida Panthers Direct Comparison / H2H-Balance
Of the last ten head-to-head meetings, six have gone to the Panthers, which isn’t that much. So far this season, the games have also been split fraternally 1-1. The first duel went 7:3 to New Jersey, the second 4:1 to Florida.
What also stands out in the clashes, however, is a wealth of goals in this matchup. In the last eight duels, a total of 47 goals were scored. That gives an average of 7.8 goals. So 5.5 or even 6.5 should be surpassed again on Saturday.
So the odds on New Jersey vs. Florida are more than just bettable. A combination with the highly favoured Panthers increases our value here without taking the risk to immeasurable heights.
New Jersey Devils – Florida Panthers Tip
The Panthers score by far the most goals in the NHL (4.06 goals per game). The Devils concede an average of 3.63 goals per game. This gives us a few betting options, all of which are bettable.
For Devils vs Panthers, a bet on Florida + Over 5.5 is our bet of choice, followed by straight over point bets and tips on the Panthers -2.
Another alternative is betting on single thirds wins for the Panthers. Since they score a lot of goals, the best case scenario could even be that they win every single period, as happened most recently on Thursday against the Blackhawks.
