Boston Bruins vs Florida Panthers Predictions, NHL Expert Picks 3/5/2020

Game: Boston Bruins vs Florida Panthers

Date: Thursday, March 5, 2020

Location: BB&T Center in Sunrise, FL

TV: NESN/FSFL

Odds/Point Spread: Bruins (-145) Panthers (+131)

Total/Over-Under: 6

Sergei Bobrovsky and the Florida Panthers (33-26-7, 4th in the Atlantic Division) play the Boston Bruins (42-13-12, 1st in the Atlantic Division) at BB&T Center on Thursday, March 5, 2020. The Bruins open this contest at -145 while the Panthers are coming in at +131. The over/under is set at 6. The Bruins are covering 62.7% of the time, having gone 42-25 SU. The Panthers are covering 47.6% of the time, going 30-33 straight up.

The Boston Bruins come into this matchup holding a record of 42 wins and 13 losses, ranking them 1st in the Atlantic Division. So far this year, they have scored a total of 220 goals which has them ranked at 5th in the Eastern Conference and 6th in the NHL. Their goal differential is +59, ranking them 1st in the NHL. The Bruins have compiled a total of 96 pts, which has them ranked at 1st in the NHL and 1st in the East. In terms of shots on goal, they have compiled a total of 2,152 which has them ranked at 5th in the East and 8th in the NHL. As a group, Boston currently has a total of 1,494 hits which means they are averaging 22.3 per contest. They have compiled a total of 713 blocks for the year. The man protecting the net for Boston is Tuukka Rask from Caledonia, Ontario. He is 32 years old and has played a total of 2,283 mins in goal for the season. Rask is allowing an average of 2.13 goals per contest which puts him at 1st in the East and 1st in the NHL among goalies. Over the course of this season, he has given up 81 goals. He has a save percentage of .928 which puts him at 3rd in the East.

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The Boston Bruins were on the right side of the scoreboard with a 2 - 1 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning in their previous contest. The Bruins could have played much better offensively in this victory. In their game, they netted 2 of the 35 shots they put on net. In addition, they had 3 power play attempts but didn't get a goal. Boston racked up a total of 7 penalty minutes for this matchup. The Corsi for the Bruins was 51 and the Corsi against was 44 which tells us they had a Corsi percentage of 53.7%. Their Fenwick was 40 while the Fenwick against sat at 26, which means they earned a rate of 60.6%. They earned 29 face-off wins at even strength and were beaten on 20 of the face-offs. Their starts in the offensive zone were rated at 44.1% and they had a PDO of 100.7 for this game. With regard to the opposition's stats, the Tampa Bay Lightning put up 21 shots. They ended the game with 11 penalty minutes and they earned 1 power play chance.

The Panthers will be on the other side of the ice and for the season they sit with 33 victories and 26 defeats. Regarding goal differential, they are currently ranked 9th in the East and 18th in the NHL with +1. They currently have a total of 221 goals for the season which has them sitting at 4th in the Eastern Conference. Florida has a save % as a team of .897 which has them ranked 27th in the NHL, which tells us scoring chances could be plentiful if they are aggressive. They have a team shooting percentage of 10.3% putting them at 6th in the East. In goal for Florida is Sergei Bobrovsky who is having a rough season by giving up 3.23 GAA and that has him ranked 30th among Eastern Conference goalies and 60th in the NHL among goaltenders. In the 2,806 minutes he's played this season, he has surrendered 151 goals. He's earned a save percentage of .900, which ranks him 25th among Eastern Conference goalies and 53rd in the NHL among goaltenders.

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The Florida Panthers went up against the Calgary Flames in an outing where the Panthers took the loss by a final of 3 - 0. For this matchup, Florida earned a 46.2% Corsi rating. They earned that percentage by having a Corsi of 43 while their opponent earned a Corsi of 50. Their Fenwick percentage came in at 49.3% by earning a Fenwick of 36 and the Flames ending the game with a 37 Fenwick at even strength. This Corsi percentage speaks to the kind of game that Florida played and it could be said that this team has had better games. They had a PDO of 92.3 and they'll go home having earned an oZS percentage of 41.7%. The Panthers scored 0 goals out of the 38 shots on goal they took. They had 3 power play chances in this one but weren't able to notch a goal. Regarding their opponent, the Flames had 1 power play chance and used that advantage to score 1 goal. Florida allowed 28 shots on goal and the Flames racked up a total of 6 minutes in the box.

Who will win tonight's hockey game against the spread?

Josh's Pick: Take Boston (-145)

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