Face-off: 2200 ET, 21/01/2022
Venue: Rogers Arena
Florida have made a Jekyll and Hyde start to their five-match road trip and it will be interesting to see which version of this talented team turns up in Vancouver.
However, the Panthers did beat the Canucks comfortably at FLA Live Arena last week, so they are still hard to oppose on that evidence.
Punters can get 1.95 for an away win in regular time and that is the first of our Vancouver Canucks vs Florida Panthers predictions.
Vancouver Canucks Odds
Vancouver appeared to have their limitations exposed when following up a 5-2 defeat at Florida with a 4-2 loss at Tampa Bay and a 4-1 reversal at Carolina.
However, the Canucks deserve plenty of credit for rallying with a 4-2 win at Washington and a 3-1 triumph at Nashville.
Thatcher Demko was a stalwart between the posts and head coach Bruce Boudreau was happy with the spirit shown.
He said: “We have a lot of heart and we’ve got a great goaltender, there’s no doubt about it.
“We didn’t win them all, but coming back in the last two, especially when you are missing some key components to your team, it was a big effort.
“It’s getting us closer to where we want to be. It meant a lot to us to be able to go home with a two-game winning streak.”
Justin Dowling returned from the Covid list against the Predators but losing fellow forwards Bo Horvat and Conor Garland to the same protocols was a blow.
The Canucks should make their presence felt here, but we just fear Florida may have too much firepower if bringing their A-game.
Looking at the NHL odds, we like 3.1 for the Panthers to prevail and both teams to score at least twice in regular time.
Florida Panthers Odds
Florida started out on their travels with a 5-1 defeat at Calgary but then showed their true worth in last night’s 6-0 romp at Edmonton.
Aleksander Barkov grabbed two goals and an assist and Sam Reinhart set up three strikes, although the scoreline doesn’t tell the whole story.
The real star of the show was Sergei Bobrovsky, who helped the Panthers to survive an early onslaught and ended up making 40 saves.
“He was the best player on the ice by far,” declared teammate Carter Verhaeghe. “He made some unbelievable saves on the PK and all night long.
“He really kept us in it early on. The game could have gone a lot different without him back there, for sure.”
Backing up will be tough for the 33-year-old Russian and 20-year-old stand-in Spencer Knight would be a significant downgrade.
The Panthers are a patchy 7-5-2 when starting with Knight, who was on duty in Calgary and has just an .891 save percentage.
However, Florida are an impressive 9-1-1 since returning from the Christmas break and still get the nod to win by exactly two goals at 7.0 in our NHL predictions.
Additional stats
Last result:
Nashville 1-3 VANCOUVER
Edmonton 0-6 FLORIDA
Head-to-head: Florida 5-2 Vancouver
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