The Florida Panthers have a chance to close out the Eastern Conference Final tonight in Game 4 against the Carolina Hurricanes.
In the first round of the NHL Playoffs, the Panthers took out the Stanley Cup favorites in the Boston Bruins. In the second round, they beat the new betting favorites, the Toronto Maple Leafs. Now, they have a chance to do it for a third straight round as the Hurricanes were set as the favorites ahead of the Conference Finals.
If the Panthers advance, it'd be the second time they have made the Stanley Cup Final, with the last time coming in 1996.
Can they get the job done in front of their home fans? Let's find out what the oddsmakers think.
Hurricanes vs. Panthers odds, puck line, and total
Hurricanes vs. Panthers prediction and pick
I have bet on the Hurricanes in each of the first three games. Despite going 0-3 with those bets, I refuse to stop. I will go down with the Hurricanes ship of I have to.
Carolina has, from an analytics perspective, completely outplayed Florida in this series. If you look at "expected goals", the Hurricanes are averaging 3.34 expected goals per 60 minutes and the Panthers are averaging 2.33 expected goals per 60 minutes.
Sergei Bobrovsky is the reason the Panthers have been on this run in the playoffs. He has a .935 save percentage in the postseason heading into tonight. Can he keep this level of play up? I don't think so, but then again I didn't think he'd keep playing this well and he continues to prove me wrong night after night.
Regardless, I'm trusting the advanced analytics and I'm betting on the Hurricanes to avoid the sweep in Florida tonight.
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Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.
