Commercial Content 21+

Capitals +260/Panthers -340

Odds provided by BetMGM

The Florida Panthers ended the 2021/22 Regular Season on a high note, winning the first Presidents’ Trophy in the franchise’s history. It was a spellbinding accomplishment for a franchise that has long been the butt of many jokes among hockey fans in other markets. 

The joke is now on the rest of the Eastern Conference, though, as the Panthers are the deserving favorites to get out of the East and get back to the Stanley Cup for the first time since 1996. 

There is no secret to Florida’s success. The Panthers are an offensive truck. Florida scored 337 goals this season, the most by a team in the Salary Cap Era (2005-present). The Panthers’ underlying metrics all support that they are the best offensive team in the NHL by some margin. No team in the NHL scored more goals, created more expected goals, or generated more high-danger scoring chances at 5-on-5 this season. 

The key to Florida’s attack is the depth of the roster. The Panthers have elite offensive players like Aleksander Barkov and Jonathan Huberdeau, but their middle-of-the-roster players are the difference-makers. Sam Reinhart, Sam Bennett, Claude Giroux, Mason Marchment, Anthony Duclair, and Carter Verhaeghe are all dynamic players in their own right, but they are supporting players in Florida. Being able to match a mix of those players against the weaker parts of their opposition’s forward group gives the Panthers a huge advantage in almost any matchup. 

That scoring balance also provides cover for Florida’s defense, which has been leaky at times during the regular season. The Panthers were not shy about betting on their offensive talent in a high-event game, but in a playoff setting, that style can get skilled teams in trouble.

That scenario is the only realistic hope for the Capitals in this series. Washington has similar questions on defense, but the Caps do have a clinical offense that regularly finishes near the top of the NHL in shooting percentage. Alex Ovechkin, TJ Oshie, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Nicklas Backstrom, and Tom Wilson are all terrific offensive players and will need to capitalize on basically every opportunity they get in this series since they won’t see all that much time on the puck. But if there is a group of players who can pull off the absorb-and-counter approach, it is Ovechkin and his cohorts. That is, if Ovechkin is healthy. 

Given their defensive flaws and the questions in goal, it’s fair to question whether or not this Panthers team is built for the tighter style of hockey that is played in the playoffs. But Washington’s goaltending situation leaves plenty to be desired, especially since Vitek Vanecek will be asked to steal a number of games to keep the Caps alive in this series.

Everything in betting comes down to price and while the Panthers are unpalatable at -340, the price on the Caps is too short to get involved as well. 

NHL playoff series bet: Pass/No bet