Welcome back to NHL Predictions. Each day, Last Word on Hockey takes a look at the games that are scheduled and offers insight and analysis to help predict who will be victorious in head-to-head matchups. In today’s round of NHL Predictions, we are looking at the game between the Carolina Hurricanes and Florida Panthers. Be sure to check out more NHL Predictions as the 2024-25 season continues.
NHL Predictions
Carolina Hurricanes vs Florida Panthers
Head-to-Head: Florida 2 – Carolina 0
TV: FDSNSO; SCRIPPS; ESPN+
Time: 7:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST)
For the third and final time this season, the Carolina Hurricanes and Florida Panthers will square off against each other in Florida. The previous two meetings saw the Panthers win both during a home-and-home stand right after American Thanksgiving. The first in Raleigh was a back-and-forth, high-scoring affair, while the second was a rout by the Panthers, cruising to a 6-0 win. The Panthers look to make this a sweep, while Carolina looks to course correct.
The Hurricanes Story
The Hurricanes enter this matchup following a weird shootout loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on New Year’s Eve. As has become a pretty consistent flaw for the Hurricanes lately, they seemed to have ultimately lost that one due to self-inflicted wounds. The Blue Jackets three goals were products of
- William Carrier breaking his stick
- Brent Burns running into Pyotr Kochetkov and leaving the net wide open
- Seth Jarvis own goal.
But it’s a new day, and a new year for that matter with Carolina looking to snap out of their funk and get on track for 2025.
In their last ten, they are 5-4-1 and sit in third in the Metropolitan Division. They are top ten in the league in most metrics and have been especially good on special teams. They are at the top of the league in penalty kill and top five on the man advantage. Martin Nečas remains at the top of the team in points with 45, while newcomer Jack Roslovic has continued his strong start with the Hurricanes and leads the team in goals with 17. In the last five games, Roslovic has seven points and four goals. While goaltending has still been something the Hurricanes are rumoured to be exploring, Pyotr Kochetkov will likely get the start here.
The Panthers Story
On the other end of the ice, the Panthers roll into this one following a victory over the New York Rangers on December 30th. That game came after two straight defeats and saw the Panthers get back on track. Playing one more game than Carolina, the Panthers have almost an identical record to the Hurricanes (23-13-2 vs 22-13-2). In addition, their power play percentage of 25.2% is right there with Carolina’s 25.6%. In other words, these two teams are having about as close of seasons to each other as you can right now.
Sam Reinhart leads the Panthers in all offensive major statistics with 45 points, 22 goals, and 23 assists. But playing ten games less than Reinhart is the Panther’s captain Aleksander Barkov with 34 points and also 23 assists. Florida will look to continue their heavy play here and beat the Hurricanes down. Sergei Bobrovsky will likely get the start given their two-day rest but always check game day lineups for fantasy purposes.
Prediction
As of late, these two teams seem to almost always meet in playoff-like battles on the ice (ignore the latest 6-0 Panthers victory in this). Generally, Florida seems to pull out the victory one way or another. Of course, we all know about the 4-0 Panthers sweep during the 2023 Eastern Conference Finals. But largely these two teams are close matchups, making a prediction on this one pretty tough. There’s also a lot of players on both sides with Finnish connections that we will see during the 4 Nations Faceoff. Neither team is on a heater nor a complete cold streak. However, Carolina’s pattern of making mistakes that seem to always end up in goals against might be an issue here unless 2025 brings new things.
Prediction: Florida wins 3-2
Prop Bets of the Night
For prop bets of the night, take a look at Reinhart for Florida as an anytime goal scorer with +165 odds. As for Carolina, look at Roslovic as an anytime goal scorer with +350 odds. The spread is set at 1.5. Take the under on the spread with +250 odds.
Main Photo Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images
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