Goals have been hard to come by for Utah in recent games, and Florida will happily take advantage.
NHL
The Utah Hockey Club have returned home after a lousy four-game road trip to take on the Florida Panthers tonight.
Utah has struggled to score goals as of late, and my Panthers vs. Utah Hockey Club predictions don’t expect that to get fixed against Florida.
Find out more in my NHL picks for this tilt on January 8.
My best bet
Panthers moneyline (-140 at FanDuel)
My analysis
The Utah Hockey Club have not been a great home team this season.
Utah sports a 5-7-4 record in its barn and has also lost its last three straight at home. Karel Vejmelka is tonight’s expected starter, and in his last five games, he possesses a 1-3-1 record with a .901 SV% and a 3.03 GAA.
Sergei Bobrovsky should be the man in the blue paint for the Florida Panthers, and while his record in his last five starts is 2-3-0, his .932 SV% and a 2.20 GAA tell a different story.
Bobrovsky was outstanding the other night in Colorado. He made 31 saves and only gave up two goals, but his team couldn’t find a second goal past Mackenzie Blackwood.
Although the Panthers have not been as consistently good as they were last season, their physicality matches up well against an undersized Utah team.
The HC have a ton of skill up front, but they aren’t necessarily known to be a gritty team. The Panthers’ style of play should be able to frustrate the home team tonight.
Utah has only been able to score 17 goals over its last six games while allowing 3.71 goals against. The Cats have been a solid road team this season (12-7-1) and will get back in the win column.
Panthers moneyline
Over 5.5
Carter Verhaeghe 3+ shots
Even though both teams have been struggling to score lately, the total on this game being 5.5 seems a bit too attractive. Both teams still have a ton of offensive skill; for Utah, guys like Clayton Keller, Logan Cooley, and Dylan Guenther have been producing at around a point-per-game rate since the start of December.
On the flip side, Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Reinhart, and Aleksander Barkov are always a threat when they’re on the ice. Both teams should trade chances.
Carter Verhaeghe’s production has gone down a bit as he only has two goals in his last 10 games, but he was able to find the back of the net the other night in Colorado and has had a minimum of three shots on goal in his last three straight games.
He’s averaging 2.93 shots on goal per game this season and Utah is allowing the fourth-most shots against (31.7) over the past seven games.
Learn how to bet a same-game parlay with these helpful tips and strategies.
Utah has lost six of its last seven games. Find more NHL betting trends for Panthers vs. Utah Hockey Club.
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Jonny Lazarus has loved hockey for as long as he can remember. After his Division I playing career at UMass-Amherst and Mercyhurst University came to an end in 2020, he transitioned from being a player to working in the media. He might be young in his career, but he has made appearances in numerous places like the NHL, Bleacher Report, as well as The Action Network, and this season he will be doing color commentary for a selection of UMass-Amherst hockey games.
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