NHL Hockey Betting: Florida Panthers at Vancouver Canucks
The Florida Panthers are looking for their first win on a four game road trip and will try again on Friday night in Vancouver. The Panthers have already lost 5-2 at Calgary and 4-3 at Edmonton and will have three days after this game before the final game of the trip at Arizona. The Panthers are treading water at the moment and are in fifth place in the Atlantic Division two points ahead of Tampa Bay and 3 up on Detroit. They’re 1 back of fourth place Toronto and 3 back of Ottawa and Boston who are tied for second place. The Panthers are 4-4-2 in their last ten and even though they’re not in bad shape in the standings might be on the verge of ‘throwing in the towel’ on the season. On Thursday the team admitted that there’s a chance that injured forwards Aleksander Barkov and Jonathan Huberdeau might not return this season.
The Canucks Have been playing well of late taking points in nine of their last ten games. They’re in a fifth place tie with Los Angeles three back of Calgary, eight back of third place San Jose, 9 back of second place Edmonton and 11 points behind first place Anaheim. Vancouver is 6-1-3 in their last ten games and has been strong all season on their home ice with a 16-6-3 record. It’s the road that’s the problem and the Canucks are 5-13-3 away from home. The Canucks have another road trip coming up with stops in Chicago, Colorado and Arizona.
Roberto Luongo will get the start in the Panthers net and he’s very familiar to the fans here in Vancouver. He played with the Canucks for seven seasons before heading to Florida where he’s found new life. The Canucks have yet to confirm their goalie but it will most likely be Ryan Miller. Luongo is 13-12-5 on the year with a 2.45 goals against average and a 0.920 save percentage. Miller is 13-10-3 with a 2.54 goals against average and a 0.917 save percentage.
Florida won the only matchup so far this season, taking a 4-2 decision at home. The teams split a pair of games last year with each winning on home ice.
BET VANCOUVER CANUCKS -110 OVER FLORIDA PANTHERS
