NY Rangers (2-3) at Florida (3-2)
When: Saturday, June 1st 2024
Where: Amerant Bank Arena,
Sunrise, FL
Time: 8:00 ET | TV: ESPN
Opening Odds: Florida -165/5.5
The Florida Panthers are one win away from reaching the Stanley Cup Finals for the second consecutive season. They can punch their ticket at home on Saturday night when they host Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the New York Rangers. With a win, the Panthers would host Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals on June 8th against Edmonton, or go on the road to face the Dallas Stars. Florida comes in as a -165 favorite with a total pegged at 5.5.
The Panthers are coming off a huge Game 5 win on the road to take a 3-2 series advantage and would rather not go back to Madison Square Garden. Florida is now a huge -450 favorite to win the series, with the Rangers at +350. Three games in a row had gone to overtime in the series until Thursday’s Game 5. If you think the next game will need extra time, you can get +285 odds on that. Bovada Sportsbook offers hundreds of props for this game and all Stanley Cup Playoff action.
NEW YORK RANGERS
New York finally outplayed the Panthers for most of the game and even got a short-handed goal to boot. But it wasn’t enough, as the Rangers fall at home in the crucial Game 5. Chris Kreider’s eighth goal of these playoffs gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead 2:04 of the second, but the Panthers scored the next three. Alexis Lafreniere scored his eighth of the playoffs to make the final 3-2 after the Panthers got an empty netter. It was Lafreniere’s third straight game with a goal as well as Kreider’s third career shorthanded playoff goal, tying Mark Messier for the most in franchise history. Igor Shesterkin tried his best and stopped 34 of 36 shots.
FLORIDA PANTHERS
Odds are in the favor of the Game 5 winner of a 2-2 series (80 percent). The Panthers comeback win was their sixth of this postseason. Gustav Forsling (fourth of playoffs), Anton Lundell (third) and Sam Bennett (fifth) had the Florida goals with Bennett’s being the empty netter. Sergei Bobrovsky improved to 7-2 in his nine career appearances in the conference finals and became the fourth active goaltender to record 40 career playoff wins. Florida is 3-1 all-time when leading a best-of-seven series 3-2.
Prediction:
The Rangers have to be deflated after losing Game 5 at home and the Panthers have all the momentum. Florida is also dominating puck possession and I don’t see that changing at home in Game 6. I say the Panthers get the job done here in Game 6.
