NHL Odds, Pick, Prediction: Ducks vs. Panthers (April 12)
John Russell/NHLI via Getty Images. Pictured: Florida Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky.
- The Anaheim Ducks make the trek to the southeast to face the Florida Panthers in Tuesday's NHL clash.
- The Panthers are massive favorites, but analyst Greg Liodice believes there's betting value on the total.
- Check out below why he thinks the offenses shine in this matchup.
Ducks vs. Panthers Odds
| Ducks Odds | +330 |
| Panthers Odds | -450 |
| Over/Under | 6.5 (-130 / +110) |
| Time | 7 p.m. ET |
| TV | ESPN+ |
| Odds via BetMGM. Get up-to-the-minute NHL Odds here. | |
The Anaheim Ducks head east to take on the surging Florida Panthers in Tuesday’s NHL action. It’ll be the final time they meet, with Panthers earning a 3-0 shutout win last month in their previous meeting.
While Anaheim held strong in the playoff hunt for about 70% of the season, it has struggled since February. The Ducks have gone a whopping 6-17-3 since the All-Star break, evidently wiping them from the playoff hunt.
Though Florida’s goaltending hasn’t been up to snuff, the franchise is still rolling with a seven-game win streak. The Panthers are currently two points out of the top record in the league, going 9-1 in their last 10 games.
Anaheim Ducks
It’s no secret the Ducks have a talented bunch. They’re raw, but certainly talented. Troy Terry has managed to become an All Star with more than 30 goals, and Trevor Zegras is one of the league’s more exciting young players. Behind the young studs, Cam Fowler and Adam Henrique have chipped in and helped them develop.
The Ducks are as one dimensional as it gets. Sure, there’s a bright future with their young talent, but only scoring 2.76 goals per game and having a 48.47 xGF% isn’t ideal. Anaheim does create a decent amount of high danger chances, though. And because of that, its power play has done well, scoring at a 22% rate.
Defensively, Anaheim has fallen apart over the course of the season. The Ducks allow 3.20 goals per game, as well as a good amount of high danger chances. To their credit, they’ve managed to maintain a decent penalty kill, fighting off almost 81% of opposing power plays.
John Gibson has been such an integral part for Anaheim. For the better part of the season, he was the team MVP until the Ducks collapsed in front of him, forcing his numbers to deteriorate. For the year, the goaltender is has a .904 SV% and a -12.5 GSAx overall. Yes, his numbers are ugly, but Anaheim would have been much worse had it not been for him. Backup Anthony Stolarz played this last Saturday, so I don’t expect to see him.
Florida Panthers
Florida is loaded from top to bottom, with one of the deeper teams in the league. Currently, the Panthers lead the league in 20-plus goal scorers with seven of them. That includes Jonathan Huberdeau, Aleksander Barkov, Sam Reinhart, Anthony Duclair, Carter Verhaeghe, Sam Bennett and Claude Giroux. One player of note who will be missing is top defenseman Aaron Ekblad, who’s out for the rest of the regular season.
With the abundance of talent, the offense has been humming all season. With an astounding 4.15 goals per game, its expected goals rate is ranks second at 56.79 xGF% in the metric. Not only do the Panthers create the most high danger chances out of all teams, but their power play is deadly, scoring at a 24% clip.
The defense has held up well, even though lately it has struggled. Florida has managed to hold opponents to 2.92 goals per game and rank 16th in high danger chances allowed. When down a man, though, the penalty kill has been fairly mediocre, with only a 78.9% success rate.
After a very strong start to the season, Sergei Bobrovsky is starting to crack. In his last six games, he has posted less than a .900 SV% in five of them, including getting pulled in two in a row.
Luckily enough, the team in front of him has managed to bail him out during their seven-game winning streak, but it’s still alarming going into the playoffs. Still, he’s one of the better goaltenders in the league and holds a +17.2 GSAx this season. Either way, I expect “Bob” to start since Spencer Knight played in this past Saturday’s game against Nashville.
Ducks vs. Panthers Pick
Whenever the Panthers are playing, I tend to aim to backing the total going over the number. They’ve averaged more than 4.5 goals per game this past month, and managed to allow 3.1 goals per outing in their past 12 games.
While Anaheim is struggling and the defense has turned into Swiss cheese, I see no reason why Florida can’t put up at least four goals. Plus with the Ducks’ young and exciting talent, there’s definitely a chance for the red light to be lit more than a few times.
Pick: Total Over 6.5 Goals (-130)
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