NHL Stanley Cup Finals Best Bet for June 17: It’s Do or Die for the Oilers Tonight

Done and Dusted?

It’s unfair to write off the Edmonton Oilers from lifting this year’s Stanley Cup, but we must be honest in our analysis of how the previous games went down and how tonight’s matchup could be the final one of the series.

It’s fair to say the Oilers never turned up for game five, which has left them in a bad situation. If the Oilers wish to become Stanley Cup champions they need back-to-back wins over Florida, something they haven’t achieved in the previous 8 games against this team.

Florida just know how to win hockey games, and that’s the simple fact, even if the Oilers showed up in game five we are still confident the Panthers would have somehow managed to come away with the win.

The Panthers have strength all over the ice and they always battle hard, getting to the puck first, setting up the forecheck etc. They just do it all better than the Oilers. Edmonton realistically rely on the brilliance of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, once you keep them two quiet your most likely going to get the better of them.

Given how the Panthers have dominated the Oilers thus far, it’s going to be very hard to see the Oilers winning two games in a row against the Panthers. On the bright side a win tonight sees them take game seven back to Edmonton (although it’s not much of an advantage given the Panthers are 2-1 on the road in these finals and 10-3 overall in the post-season).

Bad Boy Marchand

The player everybody loves to hate, Brad Marchand. Well what an asset he has turned out to be for the Florida Panthers, especially in this year’s finals as Marchand has now managed to score the first goal of the game in three of the opening five games of this year’s finals and has bagged himself six goals in the opening five games.

Marchand was unexpectedly traded to Florida from Boston just a few weeks before the playoffs began, and it turns out he has fitted into the team and their style of play better than anybody could have predicted.

Marchand could be about to hoist his 2^nd Stanley Cup of his career, having won it in 2011 he finished runner-up in 2013 and 2019.

Edmonton & Florida Trends & Facts

• The total has gone over in 7 of Florida’s last 7 games against Edmonton.
• Florida is 11-4 in its last 15 games.
• Edmonton is 2-6 in its last 8 games against Florida.
• The total has gone over in 4 of Edmonton’s last 5 games when playing on the road against Florida.
• Florida is 13-8-6 in its 27 games decided by one goal

The Pick

The Florida Panthers are without a doubt the better of the two teams, they won the Stanley Cup last season in seven games against the Oilers, this time around we believe they will do it in six games.

Back on home ice tonight they will be eager to get things wrapped up to enjoy the celebrations in front of their own fans and arguably they should have already hoisted the trophy as we believe the Oilers two victories so far were somewhat fluky.

The Panthers have had a 2 or more goal lead in 4 of the opening 5 games and we believe tonight they can win this game and cover the -1.5 PK line for some really nice plus money odds at +170 with BetOnline.

There is no value in taking the Panthers moneyline as the Oilers will be pulling their goaltender early if they are down by 1 or more goals in the finals few minutes of the game.

We expect Florida to win it all tonight and wrap up this years NHL season.

NHL Pick: Florida Panthers -1.5 (+170) at BetOnline

Florida Panthers -1.5 (+170)

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*The line and/or odds on picks in this article might have moved since the content was commissioned. For updated line movements, visit BMR’s free betting odds product.