Stanley Cup Final picks: Best bets for Game 3
Andrew Berkshire picks out his four best NHL bets for Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final between Florida Panthers and Vegas Golden Knights.
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The Vegas Golden Knights have an opportunity to put a stranglehold on the Stanley Cup Final tonight with a win on the road against the reeling Florida Panthers. After dropping both games in Vegas, the Panthers are left searching for answers as the series shifts to Sunrise, Florida. Can the Panthers rein in their lack of discipline and focus on the goal of winning a game? They’ll need to be a different team entirely after being outscored 12-4 through two games.
Florida Panthers to win
While the Golden Knights have put the boots to Sergei Bobrovsky in this series, the underrated storyline has been that the least-disciplined team in the regular season has shown their faces for the first time in the playoffs.
The Panthers are one of the few teams who had taken fewer penalties per game in the playoffs than they did in the regular season, going from the least-disciplined to among the most, but Vegas has ruined that streak. The Panthers have lost control of themselves through the first couple games here, but they have a chance to wrest control back on home ice.
They proved against the Bruins that they’re not done until four wins are on the board, so I think they show up in this one.
Over 6.5 total goals
This series has been very high scoring so far, although most of that has been due to the Golden Knights solving Sergei Bobrovsky in a way no one else in the playoffs has been able to do, but don’t discount the Panthers’ ability to score either.
At a certain point in this series, the Panthers’ goal scoring will kick in, and playing on home ice for the first time in the series might be the spark they need to break through Adin Hill and put up some goals.
Sam Bennett to score anytime
He didn’t get it done in the last game, but at some point in this series, Sam Bennett has to make an impact. Through two games, Bennett has seven shots on goal, the second-highest mark on the team after Brandon Montour, along with 13 shot attempts, seven scoring chances, and three high danger chances.
If Bennett can’t contribute some goals, and he’s wildly overdue in these playoffs to start scoring, it’s going to be incredibly difficult for the Panthers to get back in this series.
Jonathan Marchessault & Matthew Tkachuk both to score 1+ points
The hottest player on each team getting on the board seems like a pretty safe bet in almost any game, but especially so in this one.
Marchessault looks like the most motivated player in the world as he pushes to win the Stanley Cup against the team that thought he wasn’t worth protecting in the expansion draft, and Tkachuk is finally engaged in the series after taking two 10-minute misconducts and scoring a goal in between them in the last game.
Can these two repeat that level of performance in Game 3? My question is: who is going to stop them? Adin Hill might be the most likely candidate, but how likely is it that he can keep the Panthers shut down so effectively all series?