NHL 2023/24 Play-offs, Stanley Cup Final, Game 1 on Sunday, June 9, 2024
On June 9, the Edmonton Oilers head to Sunrise, South Carolina, to play the Florida Panthers in the opening game of the Stanley Cup Final.
A game should develop in front of the spectators that will be dominated by the first two forward lines.
In my Panthers Oilers tip for Game 1, I’m even predicting a goal from German NHL superstar Leon Draisaitl
In the first round of the playoffs, the Panthers defeated local rivals Tampa Bay Lightning 4:1. In the second round, they beat the Boston Bruins 4:2 and in the Eastern Conference final, they won 4:2 against the New York Rangers.
The Canadiens’ path through the tournament tree, on the other hand, was a little trickier. In the first playoff round, the Oilers defeated the Los Angeles Kings 4-1 with relative ease.
However, the second round series against the Canucks went the full seven games, with Edmonton eventually triumphing 4-3.
In the Western Conference final, they followed up their successful all-or-nothing game against Vancouver with a 4-2 win over the Dallas Stars.
I think there will be a lot of goals in Game 1! The Panthers have impressive depth on offense. With players like Carter Verhaeghe and Vladimir Tarasenko, they have plenty of experienced NHL pros at their disposal.
In the current postseason, Matthew Tkachuk leads the internal scoring with 19 points, followed by captain Aleksander Barkov and Verhaeghe with 17 points each. In addition, teammates Anton Lundell, Sam Reinhart and Sam Bennett have also reached double-digit scoring figures.
The Oilers, on the other hand, have exactly two attackers who are highly dangerous and are almost always a good bet for a profitable goal! Captain Connor McDavid leads the playoff scoring charts with 31 points, followed by strike partner Leon Draisaitl with 28.
Edmonton also has experienced forwards such as Corey Perry, who won the Stanley Cup with the Anaheim Ducks in 2007, as well as Evander Kane, Adam Henrique and Connor Brown.
Kane in particular could be even stronger in the finals series, as he usually comes into his own in big moments …
Attention: The Oilers’ power play has developed into an extremely dangerous weapon in the postseason. This was especially evident in the games against the Stars.
In Game 5, for example, they converted 2 out of 3 overtime situations and in Game 6 they even converted every PP opportunity they had (2 out of 2).
In terms of numbers, the Oilers scored an impressive 19 goals on 51 power play chances in 18 games, which corresponds to a success rate of 37.3 percent. No other team in the playoffs can match this efficiency.
In addition, Edmonton did not concede a single goal during their own power play situations. Therefore, the Panthers should try to avoid penalties as much as possible
In my estimation, there are five different key players in this game on which the outcome could depend – and more than half of these special players are the Canadiens.
That’s because the Oilers have two outstanding stars in the aforementioned McDavid and Draisaitl, who can single-handedly decide a game at any time. In addition, Bouchard, a dangerous scorer from the blue line, is also part of the team.
On the Panthers’ side, Bobrovsky is a goalkeeper who regularly makes life difficult for opposing forwards.
His teammate Verhaeghe, on the other hand, has developed into the man for the special moments in the Panthers’ past three playoff runs. He has scored the decisive goal nine times, five of them in overtime
The Floridians’ offense also consistently delivers promising numbers at home, which is why I feel vindicated in my decision not to waste an EM free bet with an over-4.5-goal wager.
In nine games in the postseason, the Florida Panthers have averaged 75.1 shots, including 34.5 shots per 60 minutes on home ice.
These numbers are almost exactly the same as the already high regular-season averages of 72.8 shots and 34.7 shots per 60 minutes.
By the way: Most bookmakers that are suitable for ice hockey betting are also some of the best European Championship betting providers far and wide.
However, none of them expect the Panthers Oilers betting tip for Game 1 to be a one-sided affair.
Nevertheless, there’s no denying that the hosts could narrowly win the “odds duel” with average odds of 2.15 to 2.80 for a win in regulation time.
Conclusion: The Oilers will be successful if their power play continues to be as effective, the McDavid-Draisaitl duo breaks through against Florida’s strong defensive unit and goalie Skinner puts in an outstanding performance.
In particular, I’m hoping the German NHL superstar can make an important contribution to winning this all-important opening game.
Meanwhile, the necessary incentives for an away win bet and a goal bet on Cologne are created by the bookmakers, who surprisingly rate the occurrence of both scenarios as somewhat unlikely.
My tip: Leon Draisaitl scores
