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Panthers vs Bruins Game 2 Prediction, Game Preview, Live Stream, Odds and Picks
Boston Looks to Go Up 2-0 in First-Round Series
Florida Hoping to Steal Road Game
The Florida Panthers squandered an opportunity to jump out on top in a series against a Boston Bruins team that set NHL records for wins and points during the regular season. Florida carried much of the play in the opening 40 minutes before the Bruins went into shut-down mode in the third period en route to the 3-1 win. It was the only win by more than one goal among the four playoff games played on Monday.
The Bruins won even without first-line center Patrice Bergeron and now look to go up 2-0 in the series on Wednesday night. For the Panthers, a split would be nice, but even a second straight loss wouldn’t keep them from pulling off the first-round upset. Florida will need to win at least once in Boston, but if the series goes the distance, there would be two other opportunities.
Alex Lyon had moments of brilliance between the pipes for the Panthers. However, the second goal allowed to Brad Marchand was pretty soft and the third goal came after Lyon made a save and the puck was resting on his pad.
Sergei Bobrovsky is a two-time Vezina Trophy-winning goalie so keep an eye on the goalie situation moving forward. Lyon is the one who got the Panthers into the playoffs with a late-season surge, but Bobrovsky played a starring role the last time a huge underdog eliminated a Presidents’ Trophy-winning team in the first round.
Boston has won nine games in a row and suffered four regulation losses at home this season, so keep that in mind when making NHL picks.
When looking at some of the NHL news, Florida will be without forwards Sam Bennett and Patric Hornqvist.
With the exception of center Bergeron, the other players for the Bruins viewed as either game-time decisions or being listed as questionable were able to suit up in Game 2. There is a chance Bergeron will be back on Wednesday.
According to the NHL playoff odds, the Bruins have the best odds to win the Stanley Cup title. The odds moved from +325 to +300 after the Game 1 win. Florida’s championship odds went from +3000 to +5000.
Discipline Lacking
Among the 16 playoff teams, the Panthers and Bruins were short-handed the most during the regular season.
While only four penalties were called in the series opener, Florida took two penalties in the first five minutes. The second one by Givani Smith had nothing to do with the flow of play and it proved to be costly as David Pastrnak scored to give the Bruins the early 1-0 lead.
Boston was outplayed for much of the first two periods. However, the early power-play goal enabled the NHL’s best team during the regular season to play with the lead.
That was the final penalty taken by the Panthers. However, by then it was too late.
Florida had to kill off just eight more penalties than the Bruins during the regular season. However, the Panthers allowed 34 more power-play goals than the Bruins.
Just two of Florida’s last 10 games went over the NHL betting lines total.
Captain About to Return?
The Bruins got some good news on the injury front as goalie Linus Ullmark, viewed as a game-time decision for the series opener, not only played but only allowed one goal on 32 shots. Defenseman Derek Forbort was also in the lineup.
There is a chance that captain Bergeron could return to the ice for Game 2 after he missed Monday’s game due to illness. Bergeron missed three of the last nine games during the regular season. However, that was more of a coaching decision as Jim Montgomery tried to have the Bruins as healthy as possible going into the postseason.
Bergeron had no goals and just one assist over his last six games However, he has 127 points in 167 career playoff games. It also helps that both of his linemates scored in the series opener. Brad Marchand recorded his 50th career playoff goal, the second most in franchise history, and Jake DeBrusk scored the key insurance goal after managing just four goals in 17 games in the playoffs in the previous two seasons.
Second-most for 6️⃣3️⃣
Marchy joins Cam Neely (55) as the only players in #NHLBruins history with 50 career playoff goals. pic.twitter.com/ne5FY6gVWi
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) April 18, 2023
It could be argued that the best forward for the Bruins was Tyler Bertuzzi as he played alongside Pastrnak and David Krejci, with Pavel Zacha moving up to replace Bergeron on the first time.
The Las Vegas odds total has gone over in five of the last eight games played by the Bruins.
Panthers vs Bruins Game Injuries
Panthers vs Bruins Head-to-Head
The teams split the four meetings during the regular season with both teams winning twice at home. Each of the four games finished over the total before the series opener went under the total.
The Bruins are 7-3 against the Panthers over the last 10 games with just two of those games being decided by one goal.
This will be the first postseason meeting between Boston and Florida since the Panthers won in five games in the 1996 playoffs.
Sam Reinhart led Florida with three goals during the regular season while Aleksander Barkov had a team-best six points. They combined for just one shot in the series opener.
Pastrnak has five goals and Bergeron three goals and three assists versus the Panthers this season.
Panthers vs Bruins Game Information
- Game: Panthers (42-32-8 in the regular season) vs Bruins (65-12-5)
- Location: TD Garden, Boston, MA
- Day/Time: Wednesday, April 19, 7:30 p.m. ET
- Panthers vs Bruins Live stream: NHL.TV
Panthers vs Bruins Betting Lines
The odds in this chart are posted on the time of publication of the article. They are subject to change without previous notice.
Panthers vs Bruins Picks & Prediction
Expect the Bruins to play much better early in Game 2 than they did in the opener. Boston looked like a team that had the Atlantic Division title wrapped up by early January and hadn’t played in a must-win game all season. Still, the Bruins came away with the win.
Florida came out and played a physical style, especially targeting Boston’s 61-goal scorer Pastrnak. After a couple of early penalties, that subsided a little bit. There did end up being 87 hits in the game, 44 by the Panthers. However, as the game went on, it was harder for Florida to knock Boston’s best players off the puck. Could things get a little nastier heading into Game 2?
When making NHL predictions, keep in mind that Boston is just 21-20 against the spread at home while Florida covered against the NHL betting lines in 18 of 41 road games.
Boston is 58-21-5 when listed as the favorite by the NHL odds with Florida 7-10-2 as the underdog. The Panthers have covered in just 18 of the 42 road games this season.
The Boston Bruins are listed at -240 in our Las Vegas hockey odds. This means that if you wager $100 on the Bruins, you have a chance to win $42.00. Florida is +200, offering a chance to win $200 on a $100 wager.
The implied probability attached to the betting lines gives the Boston Bruins a 70.59% chance to win, with the Florida Panthers at 33.33%.
