{"id":452852,"date":"2024-10-08T08:00:07","date_gmt":"2024-10-08T12:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=452852"},"modified":"2024-10-07T18:45:31","modified_gmt":"2024-10-07T22:45:31","slug":"nhl-predictions-october-8-with-boston-bruins-vs-florida-panthers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2024\/10\/08\/nhl-predictions-october-8-with-boston-bruins-vs-florida-panthers\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL Predictions: October 8 With Boston Bruins vs Florida Panthers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome back to the return of NHL Predictions. Each day, Last Word on Hockey takes a look at the games that are happening and gives our predictions for each one, breaking down head-to-head matchups and other factors that may play in. We also have a featured game of the day, which is considered must-watch TV. Today\u2019s featured game is the\u00a0Boston Bruins<\/a> vs Florida Panthers.<\/a>\u00a0Be sure to check out more NHL predictions<\/a> in the coming days as the 2024-25 season starts.<\/p>\n

NHL Predictions<\/h2>\n

Boston Bruins vs Florida Panthers<\/h3>\n

Time:<\/strong> 7 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT)<\/p>\n

TV:<\/strong> ESPN<\/p>\n

It’s the first game of the season for both teams as action starts in North America. Boston has been through an up-and-down off-season. However, there was some good news as goalie Jeremy Swayman<\/a> finally signed his contract.<\/a> It’s good that a deal was done, but Joonas Korpisalo<\/a> will get the start while Swayman gets back into shape. Boston has been eliminated by Florida in the last two Stanley Cup Playoffs.<\/p>\n

David Pastrnak<\/a> led the team in goals (47) and points (110) last season. The Bruins have also added Elias Lindholm<\/a> in the off-season as a way to bolster their centre depth. It’s also a pivotal season for Brad Marchand<\/a>, who is entering the final year of his deal. Boston wants to make another deep run, but the Atlantic Division is going to be tough.<\/p>\n

Florida will be celebrating its first championship in franchise history. Sergei Bobrovsky<\/a> will draw the start, but always check social media before locking in a daily fantasy starter. Much of the fanfare for the title will have taken place Monday. However, there will be some festivities for the fans.<\/p>\n

The Panthers did have to make some changes as Brandon Montour<\/a>, Nick Cousins<\/a> and a few other players departed. However, Florida still has a solid squad and will look to repeat.<\/p>\n

It’ll be hard to tell if Florida comes out flat, but it hasn’t had to deal with a lot of drama. Florida picks up the victory.<\/p>\n

Prediction: Panthers win 4-2.<\/em><\/p>\n

Chicago Blackhawks vs Utah Hockey Club<\/h3>\n

Time:<\/strong> 10 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT)<\/p>\n

TV:<\/strong> ESPN<\/p>\n

It’s the inaugural game for the Utah Hockey Club<\/a> as it hosts the Chicago Blackhawks.<\/a> Fans in Salt Lake City will be treated to seeing stars like Connor Bedard<\/a> and others in living colour. Chicago is hoping to start its move up the standings after adding plenty of veteran players.<\/p>\n

Bedard really adjusted well after some injuries en route to a Calder Trophy win. Petr Mrazek<\/a> is scheduled to be the starter<\/a> for Chicago. Philipp Kurashev<\/a> was second in points for the Blackhawks last season.<\/span><\/p>\n

Utah got a taste of hockey with preseason action, but now the games count. The former Arizona Coyotes will get a chance to rock the Delta Center for the first time. Connor Ingram<\/a> is slated to get the start in goal for Utah.<\/p>\n

Newly-minted captain Clayton Keller<\/a> led the team in goals (33) and points (76) last season. Utah also made significant changes during the off-season as it tries to make the post-season.<\/p>\n

It’s going to be a huge night and Utah will send its fans home happy.<\/p>\n

Prediction: Utah wins 4-3.<\/em><\/p>\n

Prop Bets of the Night<\/h3>\n

We have a couple of prop bets for this pair of games. Go with Marchand getting the over on +0.5 assists at +150 at Bet365. On the Florida side, Carter Verharghe at +3.5 shots is a strong play at +125.<\/p>\n

For the late game, Taylor could be worth a shout at the over on +0.5 points. Keller is worth a play at a +600 first-goal scorer or a +130 any time scorer.<\/p>\n

Main photo by: Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Welcome back to the return of NHL Predictions. Each day, Last Word on Hockey takes a look at the games that are happening and gives our predictions for each one, breaking down head-to-head matchups and other factors that may play in. We also have a featured game of the day, which is considered must-watch TV. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2352,"featured_media":447913,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,6,4548,4524],"tags":[6081,6233,4756,6255,4758,352,8028],"class_list":["post-452852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bruins","category-panthers","category-nhl","category-nhl-predictions","tag-boston-bruins-predictions","tag-chicago-blackhawks-predictions","tag-connor-bedard","tag-florida-panthers-predictions","tag-jeremy-swayman","tag-sergei-bobrovsky","tag-utah-hockey-club-predictions"],"modified_by":"Tommy Bennett","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2352"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=452852"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452852\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/447913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=452852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=452852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=452852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}