Bruins vs Panthers Game 6 Prediction, Odds and Picks Apr 28
Boston Seeks Clincher
The Boston Bruins did about everything but figure out a way to win Game 5 and become the first team to advance to the second round in this year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Despite outshooting the visiting Panthers 47-25 and winning 62% of the faceoffs, Boston had to rally from a goal down three times before a miscue by goalie Linus Ullmark led to the easiest overtime goal that Matthew Tkachuk will ever score.
The series heads back to Florida for Game 6 where Boston won both games in the series.
The biggest news, other than the result, was the return to the ice by Boston first-line center Patrice Bergeron. Playing for the first time in this year’s playoffs, Bergeron had six shots on goal, a goal and was 20-for-29 on faceoffs.
Florida got defenseman Aaron Ekblad back after he missed Game 4 following a collision with Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy. Ekblad was second on the Panthers in time on ice. Winger Anthony Duclair was also back after missing the previous two games and he scored one of the Florida goals in Game 5.
The team scoring first has won all five games in the series, so keep that in mind when making NHL picks.
When looking at some of the NHL news, Boston center David Krejci is questionable. Forward Ryan Lombeg is questionable while forward Patric Hornqvist is out for Florida.
According to the NHL playoff odds, the Bruins have the best odds to win the Stanley Cup. The odds moved from +225 to +250 after the Game 5 loss. Florida’s championship odds went from +10000 to +8000.
Mistakes Haunt Bruins
It seemed fitting that the game ended with a mistake in Boston’s defensive zone. The Bruins had 17 giveaways in the game and that was the only thing keeping them from closing out the Panthers.
In the two losses in the series, Boston has 32 giveaways. Brad Marchand leads the way with 12 giveaways after having four in the Game 5 loss while David Pastrnak has seven.
The Bruins committed just eight giveaways in the last road game and they will look to get back to playing a similar style on Friday.
The Bruins were sixth in the NHL in giveaways so that goes with the aggressive style played under first-year head coach Jim Montgomery. However, cutting down on the unforced errors will be a point of emphasis.
The Las Vegas NHL odds total has gone over in six of Boston’s last eight games as well as in eight of the last 12 when the Bruins are listed as the favorite.
Panthers Eyeing More 5-on-5 Play
Being a more physical team in the playoffs was clearly part of head coach Paul Maurice’s message to the Florida Panthers heading into this series.
After averaging 21.2 hits per 60 minutes during the regular season, Florida has seen that number jump to 40.2.
That has resulted in forcing some turnovers, including the one resulting in Tkachuk’s game-winning goal in Game 5.
THE ONE AND ONLY
— Florida Panthers (@FlaPanthers) April 27, 2023
However, it has also put the Bruins on the power play six more times than the Panthers in the series. With Bergeron back for Boston, it will be rather dangerous to have a similar ratio after the Bruins had five of the seven power plays in Game 5.
Four of Florida’s last six games went over the NHL betting lines total.
Bruins vs Panthers Game Injuries
Bruins vs Panthers Head-to-Head
The road team has won the last four games in the series after the home team won all four games during the regular season and the series opener. Only two games between the teams this season have finished under the total.
The Bruins are 9-5 against the Panthers over the last 12 games with just three of those games being decided by one goal.
Taylor Hall had team highs of five goals and eight points for Boston and Dmitry Orlov tops the Bruins with five assists.
Tkachuk and Sam Bennett lead Florida with three goals each.
Bruins vs Panthers Game Information
- Game: Bruins (65-12-5 regular season) vs Panthers (42-32-8)
- Location: FLA Live Arena, Sunrise, FL
- Day/Time: Friday, April 28, 7:30 p.m. E
- Bruins vs Panthers Live Stream: NHL.TV
Bruins vs Panthers Betting Lines
Bruins vs Panthers Picks and Prediction
This is danger time for the Bruins. While Boston easily had the best record on home ice during the regular season, the pressure of having to win Game 7 on home ice after setting NHL records for wins and points during the regular season would be rather intense.
Boston did lead the NHL with 31 road wins during the regular season and also won both games in Sunrise during the series. There were times in those two games when one had to wonder which team had more fans in the arena so the Panthers fans will need to change that.
Boston defenseman McAvoy leads the playoffs with 29 hits while Florida’s Radko Gudas has 24 and they will look to make their presence felt once again. Don’t expect Florida’s Aleksander Barkov to go 10-for-28 on faceoffs as he did in Game 5.
When making NHL predictions, keep in mind that Boston is 26-17 against the spread on the road ice while Florida covered against the NHL betting lines in only 16 of 43 home games this season.
Boston is 60-14-6 when listed as the favorite by the NHL odds with Florida 9-12-2 as the underdog.
The Boston Bruins are listed at -170 in our Las Vegas hockey odds. This means that if you wager $100 on the Bruins, you have a chance to win $59. Florida is +150, offering a chance to win $150 on a $100 wager.
The implied probability attached to the betting lines gives the Boston Bruins a 62.96% chance to win, with the Florida Panthers at 40.00%.
