Will the Panthers even up the series?

“Living on the edge” currently applies to the Florida Panthers, who are truly playing on the edge. They’re not falling yet, though, which leaves plenty of possibilities for our Florida vs. Vegas tip in Game 4 – including another overtime.

Because that’s the real strength of the Panthers, who have won all seven of their overtimes in these playoffs. Nerve at its best. The Golden Knights, on the other hand, now have to recover from Game 3, when they were just 2:13 away from a safe 3-0 series lead.

Does this now mean the Panthers have turned the momentum around? We wouldn’t sign off on that just yet, as the Knights have already proven multiple times this postseason that a single loss doesn’t matter to them. Vegas is 4-1 in games following a loss in these playoffs.

In that respect, for Panthers vs Golden Knights, our prediction is an absolute 50-50 duel, the outcome of which is almost impossible to predict. What can be seen with the naked eye, however, is the strong of form Jonathan Marchessault and Matthew Tkachuk, where goals are currently the order of the day.

First face-off of the fourth game of the 2023 Stanley Cup Finals is in Florida again on Sunday night at 02:00. The game can be followed live on ran.de, Sky as well as on NHL.TV.

Florida Panthers – Statistics & current form

They’ve done it again. The Florida Panthers just can’t do without drama. For the seventh time this postseason they went to overtime and for the seventh time they decided it in their favour. For the second time, Carter Verhaeghe was the decisive scorer.

The Panthers were only 2:13 away from a then decisive 0:3 in the series, but then Matthew Tkachuk came along again. He almost single-handedly carried them through this postseason with 24 scoring points (11 of them goals).

How long will this last?

The question is how long they can maintain this abstruse overtime record. Do they actually manage to win all the overtimes in a postseason? There’s definitely something to be said for them being all in at the crucial moments.

However, a more relaxed victory would probably do them good. But they are still too inefficient in the regular season. They still only have a 7.87% scoring rate in the finals, compared to Vegas’ 15.83%.

If they didn’t currently have Matthew Tkachuk, they probably wouldn’t have a chance at all. However, this also makes it clear that a bet on another Tkachuk hit is definitely worth considering again for Florida vs. Vegas.

Bobrovsky steps up

In addition, their goalie Sergei Bobrovsky was finally reliable again in Game 3. He saved 92.6 % of all shots, which is about the same as his average in the playoffs. In the first two duels of the finals, he still fell far short of his previous performances.

They will now need Bobrovsky again on Saturday. Would we recommend betting on the Panthers? Only to a limited extent, as the Knights are very good at bouncing back after defeats. We therefore rather recommend betting on individual scorers (Tkachuk, Marchessault) or on over-points.

Key Players:
G: Sergei Bobrovsky
D: Gustav Forsling
D: Radko Gudas
LW: Carter Verhaeghe
C: Aleksander Barkov
RW: Sam Reinhart

Vegas Golden Knights – Statistics & current form

The Golden Knights were just 2 minutes and 13 seconds away from a 3-0 series lead. The Florida Panthers had even taken their goalie out and were playing Empty Net. Losing in the end can make a difference in the minds of players.

However, hardly any team is tougher this season than the Vegas Golden Knights. Even in this postseason, they have a strong 4-1 record after defeats. Nevertheless, the Stanley Cup Finals appear to be wide open again.

Little things decide

As so often in this postseason, it was again tiny things that decided the game in Game 3 on Thursday. An inattention by the defence before the 2:2, a slightly weaker performance by Adin Hill after previously strong games.

What is noticeable, however, is that the Knights have a much better grip on themselves, both in terms of penalties and giveaways. For the third game in a row they found themselves in the penalty box less and for the third game in a row they took advantage of their overtime situations with two goals.

If the Panthers actually start staying out of the penalty box, it could get even tighter for Vegas. The Knights have also dominated this series in giveaways so far, surrendering the puck just seven times in Game 3 – the Panthers had a whopping 24 giveaways!

Don’t lose momentum

When a game can’t be won despite 24 puck losses by the opposition, it’s annoying. It is therefore up to head coach Bruce Cassidy to build up his team again and to prepare that the Panthers will not act so carelessly again.

For this reason, however, duel No. 4 is completely even. Thus, the odds on Florida vs. Vegas are almost impossible to bet on. If they did, we would favour a bet on Knights +1.5, as the Panthers rarely win their games by more than one goal difference.

Key Players:
G: Adin Hill
D: Alec Martinez
D: Alex Pietrangelo
LW: Ivan Barbashev
C: Jack Eichel
RW: Jonathan Marchessault

Florida Panthers – Vegas Golden Knights Head-to-head comparison / H2H record

1:2 So it’s just one more game left in Florida. Contrary to the playoffs so far, home field advantage seems to be mutating into an advantage again in these Stanley Cup Finals. Before the Finals, less than 50% of home games were won.

But now the Panthers desperately need another home win, and to do that they need to get a better handle on their puck drops. 7:24 is usually a rate that is never enough for a win. They also need to stabilise their penalty killing.

They have a weak 64.71% success rate in the finals and have already allowed six power play goals. If they succeed, then a home win is possible. However, in Panthers vs. Knights, odds on individual player goals are more playable than betting on a winner.

Florida Panthers – Vegas Golden Knights betting tips

2:2 or 1:3 will be the score after this game and that is already a huge difference. So the importance of this game is obvious, which again promises an intense match. If the Panthers manage not to turn this emotionality into penalties for once, then they have a very good chance.

However, it is difficult to say whether they will have this calmness, which is why a bet on a goal by Jonathan Marchessault is our No. 1 betting option in Panthers vs. Golden Knights. He’s scored five goals in his last four games and he should be able to continue that streak on Saturday.

Over-point bets are always worth considering in this duel as well. With both goalies not performing at the very highest level in this series, the goalscoring average so far is 7.0, so over 5.5 goals is a bet that is also well playable at good value.