Panthers vs. Predators Match Postponed Due to COVID

The Nashville Predators and the Florida Panthers were going to play against each other at the Bridgestone Arena in the Music City on 24th December. The match was going to start a little after 8 PM ET. However, it has been postponed to a later date because of a coronavirus outbreak in the Panthers team. While the new date hasn’t been announced, the Panthers vs. Predators prediction will look at the NHL picks and the lines and odds of both teams for their upcoming match. The Nashville Predators will look to continue their chase of the top position in the Western Conference when they go to the home ground of the Florida Panthers. The Predators own the best home record in the league. They are a couple of points in front of St. Louis for the top position in the Central Division and a position behind Anaheim for the top record in the league. Nashville has obtained victory in more than five of its last seven matches with Florida. This includes a home win in a shootout held last month.

The Panthers are sitting at more than six points behind Boston. They have a couple of matches in hand. They need this victory for the final playoff position in the Eastern Conference. They won a couple of consecutive matches following a losing streak during which they lost more than six matches. Florida started its three-match homestand by scoring a couple of third-period goals to win over defending Stanley Cup champ Los Angeles this week. The Predators came away with a win this week despite being outshot. G Juuse Saros stopped nearly all of the shots of the Panthers. He got goal support from more than three different players.

Florida is still the more dominant team in the head-to-head season series going into the final meeting. The Panthers are among the top teams in the Central Division. At the same time, the Predators are a few places behind them and have to fight for the final playoff position. After this match, both teams will have more than four matches remaining in the regular season.

Panthers vs. Predators Prediction: A Strange Trend for Teams

When the NHL started matches in the bubble last year, a peculiar trend happened for several of the teams in the league. Most franchises were starting goaltenders who were not the best netminder on the team. Most teams had committed either emotional capital or big money to their incumbent, only to have the stats show that they would be better off opting for the lesser-known backup goalie. The Nashville Predators were one of those groups. They decided to leave the long-time star goaltender Pekka Rinne from the starting lineup and choose Jusse Saros instead. It did not pay off immediately. They lost their qualifying series to the Arizona team in under five matches. The jury is still out on the viability of Saros as a top-flight goaltender.

Meanwhile, the Panthers got Sergei Bobrovsky to a big-money deal a couple of years ago in Florida. It has been only short of a disaster right now. Goalie Bob had goals saved above average of nearly -15 in the qualifying round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. This season's initial returns had us wondering if they are going to also fall in the capital conundrum. 

Panthers vs. Predators Prediction: Nashville Predators

The season of the Predators so far has mirrored the present state of the franchise. It is nondescript. The team plays narrowly contested matches. They often rely on outplaying their opponents in a low-scoring and close match. They need to have good goaltending to make this as effective as possible. They lose easily as they did in Tampa Bay when they do not have it. Even when they had a better cumulative expected goal for rate than their rivals. As the team moved on to Sunrise for the first of their matches with the Panthers, the hope was that Saros would warm up against the team that had only converted eleven percent of their high-danger chances. They had also struggled to create them in the first place.

The Panthers got more than four goals on twenty-three shots against Saros in the first couple of periods and chased the netminder of the Predators. This has only added fuel to the fire that the junior of the Finnish goaltending duo of the team is not ready for prime time yet.

Panthers vs. Predators Prediction: Florida Panthers

The offensive explosion of the Panthers looked set to take the pressure off Bobrovsky. He has continued his habit of letting in early goals. The player with the richest contract in the team's locker room gave up a couple of first-period goals for another successive time. It was not a couple of goals that was the main issue. Justin Huberdeau scored a hat-trick that appeared to be enough to give the team a victory. But when the Predators scored a couple of times in under a minute to tie the match, a shell-shocked Panthers found themselves in overtime. They would be more surprised when Bobrovsky gave up another goal on a breakaway during the 3-on-3 period to give the Predators a victory.

Panthers vs. Predators Prediction: Best Bet

We were hoping that the Predators would take the initial match so that the fans might get a discount in this match to back the Panthers. This is especially with the potential for a revenge angle. Florida will be turning to backup goaltender Chris Dredger. His goals saved above average is the top of the various goaltenders involved in this match. The pressure was on Driedger to keep the Panthers stable after the catastrophic conclusion a few nights ago. But just like with starting pitchers in baseball, the momentum is only as good as the next match's starting netminder. The Panthers vs. Predators prediction shows that these teams are rated as evenly as possible. So, there is a good possibility of an overtime match.

But, with the Predators running low on answers on their goaltending issues, it does not matter whether Rinne will be back in the net after giving the duties in the third period and overtime or whether it will be Saros again. We will take our chances with a goalie that we have more faith in to be a difference-maker. Bobrovsky stopped most of the shots he faced in the relief of the starter Chris Driedger this week. The winner of the Vezina trophy has won more than four of his previous seven starts. He has a good save percentage and goals-against average. This is in the four appearances he has made against the Predators. Rinne is also a former Vezina winner. Saros has run away with the work in the chase of Nashville. The veteran has earned the victory in more than two of his last three starts. He also has a good save percentage and goals on average in the games he has played against the Panthers.

Panthers vs. Predators Prediction: Odds

The Panthers are the team that is most likely to win. They deserved a much better fate in their previous match played this week. Saros stole the victory for the home side in the first half of this series. Florida had nearly seventy percent of the overall shot attempts and sixty-five percent of the scoring chances. The Panthers have a little bonus in the goaltending matchup and will get the victory in the season series. The Panthers can be backed with a little wage to win by a couple of goals or more, but it may need an empty-netter. Florida is the healthier team in the matchup, and that will be more to the advantage of the visitors in this match. But the Predators are more motivated when fighting to hold off the Dallas Stars in the playoff race for the Central Division.

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