By Darren Cooper in NHL Hockey
Published:
Florida has become the center of the NHL world, and the Panthers open defense of their Stanley Cup championship tonight against Connor Bedard and the Chicago Blackhawks.
The Panthers received their rings Oct. 6 – only 250 diamonds inside – and will raise their banner tonight. On the ice, they will be without superstars Aleksander Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk due to injuries. Florida is a heavy favorite to win over the young Blackhawks.
Note the early start time. The puck will probably drop around 5:10 p.m. after the ceremonies are completed.
Read on to get caught up on the NHL season and my prediction and pick for Blackhawks vs Panthers tonight.
I believe Chicago is poised for a big upset. Chicago is still in rebuild mode, but they have one of the best young stars in the NHL in Bedard, who had 67 points last season – at age 19. He led the Blackhawks in both assists (44) and points.
Chicago brought in new coach Jeff Blashill, who was an assistant with the Lightning for the last three seasons. Before that, he was the head coach of the Red Wings. Yeah, NHL teams change coaches way too much.
I also think the injuries to Barkov and Tkachuk are landscape-changing for the entire NHL. Barkov is probably the best player in franchise history, and he’s out for at least the regular season. Tkachuk should be back before Christmas. Florida is sixth on the board at DraftKings to win the Stanley Cup this season. Check out the Stanley Cup odds here.
I don’t quite have the stones to go Chicago moneyline here, even though I thought about it. Chicago showed some life at the end of the regular season, winning four of its last six games. Bedard is a special talent.
Chicago has to be better on defense after allowing 292 goals last year (second most in the NHL). 2022 first-round pick Sam Rinzel should help.
Florida still has a killer defense and has Sam Bennett and Brad Marchand back. Goalie Sergei Bobrovsky is now 37 and is coming off a great run through the playoffs.
Chicago will likely start Bobrovsky’s understudy, Spencer Knight, in goal. He was traded by Florida to Chicago last March. He only won five games in 15 starts, but you know this one will mean a lot to him.
Odds as of Tuesday morning at FanDuel. Jump over the boards in time for the NHL season with our FanDuel promo code.
Since it’s the season opener, our best advice is to look back at last season (preseason numbers mean nothing). The Panthers were 51-54 against the spread last season and 53-49-3 over under. Chicago was over .500 against the spread last season at 43-39. They were also 42-31-9 over/under.
The Blackhawks finished with the second fewest points in the league at 61, while the Panthers were winning the Cup. Interestingly, the teams split regular-season meetings last year.
Florida has won its last eight home games against Chicago. Florida is laying a goal-and-a-half tonight. The total is the standard 5.5 (most NHL game totals are 5.5 or maybe 6.5).
The best moneyline number is +240 for Chicago at FanDuel and -285 for Florida on Bet365.
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Darren has been covering the world of sports since 1998. His grandfather had a special 'system' to bet on the ponies, but the secrets of that system have been lost to time. He loves betting the under, thinks homefield advantage is worth more than 3 points nowadays and always stays within his means.
Updated: 4 hours ago