Panthers And Hurricanes Should Shoot Away Today

Hurricanes vs. Panthers, 7:00 ET

I know there hasn’t been all that much excitement around hockey the last week because there was the Christmas vacation and then there was only one game for New Year’s Day yesterday. However, it was a great end to the 2024 calendar year and has been a really strong hockey season for me this year. Last season was brutal, so I’m glad to recoup the losses from last year. I’ll look to continue that march toward winning more and more this season with this game between the Hurricanes and Panthers.

Not many teams have had as interesting of a campaign as the Hurricanes have had this year with a 22-13-2 record. The issue for Carolina to this point in the year is winning on the road. They are just 8-9-2 on the road this season and they have lost four of the past five road games they’ve played in. This could be a little bit of a “tale of two seasons” to this point for the Hurricanes. They started the year as hot as almost anyone, going 14-4-0 through their first 18 games. Since then, they are 8-9-2 over their next 19. I am not 100% sure that I can attribute the shift in anything specific for the team. Sometimes teams just play well for stretches and then they don’t, almost every team will have this happen, but usually the losing streaks – not that this is an official losing streak, are shortened by the best teams. Tonight, they should have Pyotr Kochetkov in the net for them. He has put together a strong season and has top-30 numbers in wins, goals against, and save percentage. He hasn’t faced the Panthers in either of the games that the Hurricanes have played against Florida this year.

Nov 20, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Carolina Hurricanes right wing Andrei Svechnikov (37) and center Jack Roslovic (96) celebrate win against the Philadelphia Flyers during the third period at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

The Panthers‘ games against Carolina went very well. So far, Florida has won both matches and scored six goals in both games. Although it is just two of their 23 wins for the year, it is always encouraging to beat another good team. The Hurricanes started the year hot, but so did the Panthers. What is interesting about their team is they are incredibly streaky for the season. They’ve already had a seven-game winning streak, two three game winning streaks, and one four gamer. At the same time, they’ve had just three losses that weren’t back-to-back losses for the club, and one of them was a loss-win-loss situation. In their current form, they have won five of their past seven games and have enjoyed a nice break from hockey with their most recent win coming on Monday. I lost a play in that one as the Rangers ended up scoring three goals instead of the two or fewer I was hoping for. The goalie that let me down, Sergei Bobrovsky, will likely be in the net once again. He has allowed 2.81 goals per game and has a .897 save percentage. 

The line on this game is a bit fishy considering the Panthers have scored six goals themselves in both games against the Hurricanes. I understand there was a different goalie in between the pipes, but Carolina still rolls out the same defense. The line for this game has just a 5.5 total, and I think we get the over in this one as both teams are always capable of at least three goals. Maybe it will be a slower pace, but I like the over here. 

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