We try to predict the exact result of the Stanley Cup Final with the Winner and in how many games.
The Stanley Cup Final starts this Saturday with the Edmonton Oilers representing the West as they take on the Panthers, who represent the East. It’s the time of the year all hockey fans wait for as a new Champion is crowned and legends are made.
The public also has an opportunity to make this Stanley Cup Final historic by earning a huge payday for hitting on their last bets of the NHL season.
The choice is up to you as to who you believe will take home Lord Stanley and in how many games. If you need some encouragement however. here is our prediction for the Stanley Cup Final.
All betting lines are from BetMGM and are subject to change. Hockey is a difficult sport to predict so please gamble responsibly.
Bet: Panthers to win 4-2 (+475)
The Florida Panthers enter as the favourite for a reason as they have been here before after making it to their second straight Stanley Cup Final. They hope to win this time and very well could as they have all the pieces that made them so successful last postseason.
Netminder Sergei Bobrovsky has continued to be a difference maker with a 12-5 record, a 2.20 goals against average and a .908 save percentage that appear very similarly to his numbers entering the Stanley Cup Final last season.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yrVLqzEwpw[/embed]
The Panthers top four point producers in Matthew Tkachuk, Carter Verhaeghe, Aleksander Barkov and Sam Reinhart are the same but this time around centre Anton Lundell has emerged as an impact player and that doesn’t include deadline add Vladimir Tarasenko and power forward Sam Bennett, who enters the Finals on a three-game goal streak.
They have many weapons to help them score as they had just two players score more than one goal in last year’s Finals. They entered last year’s Final has a surprising underdog story but now have the confidence of being the favourite and running their way through their competition in the East, beating tough opponents like the president trophy winning New York Rangers.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_DBBECXxvY[/embed]
Edmonton is no small task as they have two of the best players in the world on their top end with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl along with a breakout on the backend with Evan Bouchard. McDavid will make sure the Oilers get on the board as he enters with 22 assists in his last 27 regulation periods.
They were one of the most dynamic offenses in hockey for most of the season with a 3.56 goals per game average that carried over into the postseason where they averaged 3.50 on average. The Panthers lag behind them in this category but make up for it with their physical defensive game that limits most games to the under in goals.
The Panthers averaged just 2.41 goals against on average in the regular season, which was tied for the league best with the Jets and they also carried their success into the postseason with a 2.29 average.
McDavid and the Oilers offense will need to be perfect and should be good enough to steal two games from the Panthers. A lot of the pressure will fall onto Game One as the Oilers are 22-3 all-time when taking a 1-0 series lead. If Florida can jump to an early lead, they can prevent the Oilers from getting enough momentum to win more than one or two games.