The Pittsburgh Penguins will have a chance to finish off the New York Rangers, as the series shifts back to the Big Apple tonight for Game 5.
Below, you can look at both Eastern Conference games on tonight’s NHL slate and at some of our best bets on the FanDuel Sportsbook.
Pittsburgh Penguins (+114) vs New York Rangers (-137) Total: 6 (O-120/U-102)This series hasn’t exactly gone as a lot of people expected it would, but credit to the Penguins, as they’ve done a masterful job when it comes to solving Igor Shesterkin, the likely Vezina Trophy winner. If there was going to be one team who had trouble keeping pucks out of the back of their net, you’d think it would be the one on their third-string goalie, but that hasn’t been the case with credit going to the Pittsburgh has been defense, as well as their ability to control possession.
The regular season saw a much different tale of the tape when these two clubs faced off and that’s why you can kind of throw out that data to an extent when you reach the postseason. What we have seen in the first four games of this series is simply too hard to ignore and that’s plenty of goals. They’ve combined for goal totals of 7, 7, 11, and 9 through four games, a trend that we have to continue siding with for Game 5 tonight.
Best Bets: Over 6 (-120)
Washington Capitals (+190) vs Florida Panthers (-235) Total: 6.5 (O-128, U+104)The Panthers had a gutsy comeback victory in Game 4 to even up their series with the Capitals, thanks to a Carter Verhaeghe overtime winner. Florida has only had one easy victory, at home in Game 2 where they beat up the Capitals by a score of 5-1. After playing from behind twice in Game 4 and ultimately picking up the win in overtime, there might be a sigh of relief coming from the Panthers, who have seemed to be gripping their sticks a little too tight through four games, which often comes with the pressure of winning the Presidents’ Trophy.
Game 4 showed a lot about this Panthers team and they should be able to move forward in this series as the big favorite they originally were when the postseason began. Expect the Panthers to take back the series lead tonight and to do so by multiple goals.
Best Bets: Panthers puckline -1.5 (+106)
