NHL Bettors Should Keep An Eye On The Florida Panthers

Added on Oct 15, 2010 by Jack Thurman in

NHL

We’re in the very early stages of the NHL season, but it’s always beneficial for the hockey betting enthusiast to start filing away teams that will be solid betting investments as soon as possible. It’s even more effective when they’re teams that are somewhat ‘under the radar’ as opposed to ‘public’ teams that everyone knows about. Three games into their season we’ve been very impressed with the Florida Panthers and think they’re a perfect team to use in several NHL betting situations.

At first glance, the Panthers’ record doesn’t look like much–they stand at 1-2 on the year following tonight’s 3-0 victory at Calgary. Their record doesn’t accurately reflect the way they’ve battled in every game and, more significantly, how they’ve played the game tactically. Florida has trouble scoring goals for the simple reason that they don’t have many offensive playmakers. Radek Dvorak has the potential to be a prolific NHL goalscorer but at the moment he doesn’t have a lot of playmakers to get him the puck.

The primary reason we like the Panthers, however, has nothing to do with offense. They’ve proven to be a really scrappy, hard working team in the opening games of the season. They play a ‘mucking’ style of hockey that has been effective at slowing down teams with more intrinsic talent. Take a look at their shots on goal allowed in the first three games–they allowed 27 to Calgary tonight, 13 to Edmonton in their first game of the year and 34 against a deep, talented Vancouver team that many think could be a Stanley Cup contender. That’s an average of only 24. 6 shots on goal against, and that’s going to keep them in a lot of games. They’re currently 3rd in the NHL in that highly underrated defensive catagory. They’ve also got strong goaltending with Tomas Vokoun between the pipes. Vokoun has been inconsistent at times throughout his career, but it’s a lot easier to stay on form when you’ve got a team playing nasty defense in front of you.

Florida really needs to play tough defense to win games, as their offensive production is going to struggle all year. They have trouble getting shots on net every night–they had 29 against Edmonton opening night and 42 against Vancouver, though that was due to shoddy defense on the Canucks’ part more than anything else. They only had 18 shots on goal in the win at Calgary. Working in their favor is the type of shots and goals they get–not surprising for this type of team, most are high percentage shots and a lot of deflections. They currently average 29.6 shots per game but that’s inflated by the Vancouver effort and I expect that number to drop.

I’ve cashed three plays in three tries with this Florida team and will be looking for more opportunities to play them. I had them +1′ at Vancouver and had them to win on the moneyline and go Under at Calgary. That’s how I suggest you play them in the early going–they’re a great team to use as a big road dog since they don’t provide much motivation for the league’s elite teams. It’s hard to get ‘up’ for a game against the Florida Panthers, but they’re a team that works hard every night and doesn’t quit. They’re also a great team to use Under the total–not much to add there, but a team that doesn’t get a lot of shots, doesn’t allow a lot of shots and has good goaltending won’t be in a lot of high scoring games.