Columbus Blue Jackets vs. Florida Panthers - 12/7/19 NHL Pick, Odds, and Prediction

Game: Columbus Blue Jackets vs Florida Panthers

Date: Saturday, December 7, 2019

Location: BB&T Center in Sunrise, FL

TV: FSFL

Odds/Point Spread: Blue Jackets (+153) Panthers (-170)

Total/Over-Under: 6

Joonas Korpisalo and the Columbus Blue Jackets (11-13-4, 7th in the Metropolitan Division) head to BB&T Center on Saturday where they'll take on the Florida Panthers (13-9-5, 2nd in the Atlantic Division). The Blue Jackets open this matchup at +153 while the Panthers are coming in at -170. The over/under opens at 6. The Blue Jackets are covering 39.3% of the time, having gone 11-17 SU. The Panthers are covering 41.7% of the time, going 10-14 straight up.

The Columbus Blue Jackets head into this game holding a record of 11 wins and 13 defeats, putting them at 7th in the Metropolitan Division. So far this year, they have converted a total of 70 goals which puts them at 14th in the Eastern Conference and 29th in the NHL. Their goal differential is -16, putting them at 28th in the NHL. The Blue Jackets currently have a total of 26 points, which puts them at 27th in the NHL and 13th in the conference. In discussing shots on goal, they currently have a total of 943 which puts them at 6th in the conference and 8th in the NHL. As a unit, Columbus has racked up a total of 422 hits which means they have an average of 15.1 per game. They currently have a total of 318 blocks for this year. The man in net for Columbus is Joonas Korpisalo from Winnipeg, Manitoba. He is 25 years old and has played 1,284 minutes protecting the goal for the year. Korpisalo is allowing 2.85 goals per game which puts him at 13th among Eastern Conference goaltenders and 29th among goaltenders in the NHL. Over the course of this year, he has surrendered 61 goals. His save % is .900 which puts him at 19th among Eastern Conference goaltenders.

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The Columbus Blue Jackets will look for better times on the ice after their 3 - 2 defeat to the New York Rangers in their previous contest. The Blue Jackets didn't have a great showing offensively in the defeat. In this game, they finished 2 out of the 47 shots they looked to score on. Furthermore, they had 5 power play chances but didn't get a goal. Columbus had a total of 4 penalty mins for this game. The Corsi for the Blue Jackets was 43 and the Corsi against was 26 which means they earned a Corsi percentage of 62.3%. Their Fenwick sat at 37 and the Fenwick against was 20, meaning they had a rate of 64.9%. They took 17 face-off wins and lost 16 of the face-offs. The offensive zone starts for them were rated at 50.0% and they had a PDO of 93.3 in this game. In discussing stats from the opponent, the New York Rangers earned a total of 19 shots. They finished with a total of 10 penalty mins and they tallied 2 power play attempts.

The Panthers will be the team across the ice and for the season they have 13 wins and 9 losses. In the matter of goal differential, they are ranked 9th in the Eastern Conference and 18th in the league with -1. They currently have a total of 93 goals for the year which ranks 6th in the East. Florida has a team save % of .885 which currently has them sitting 28th in the league, meaning there could be plenty of chances to score if they attack the goal. They have a shooting percentage of 10.0% ranking them 6th in the East. In goal for Florida is Sergei Bobrovsky who is having a rough season by surrendering 3.48 goals per contest and that has him 24th among East goaltenders and 51st in the NHL among goalies. In the 1,156 mins he has played this season, he has surrendered 67 goals. He has a save percentage of .884, which places him at 25th among East goaltenders and 52nd in the NHL among goalies.

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The Florida Panthers faced off against the Minnesota Wild in a matchup where the Panthers ended up losing by a score of 4 - 2. In this outing, Florida had a 60.7% Corsi rating. They wound up with that percentage by having a Corsi of 54 and the other team having a Corsi of 35. They earned a Fenwick percentage of 64.0% with a Fenwick of 48 and the Wild having earned a 27 Fenwick. These Corsi stats tell us the story of the kind of game Florida played and we'd say it was a below average outing in all. Their PDO at even strength was 84.5 and they finished this one with an oZS percentage of 64.5%. The Panthers notched 2 goals of the 46 shots on goal they took. They had 3 power play chances in this one and were able to net 1 out of those chances. As for the opposition, the Wild had 1 power play attempt but were not able to take advantage. Florida conceded 26 shots on goal and the Wild earned a total of 6 penalty mins.

Who will win tonight's NHL game ATS?

Josh's Pick: Take Florida (-170)

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