After allowing the Panthers to earn three power-play goals in their Game 3 blowout, Edmonton again permitted Florida two quick short-handed scores to open Thursday’s contest. That’s where the similarities end, however.
Down 3-0, the Oilers scored four straight goals and held on to win behind Leon Draisaitl’s overtime goal – his second of this series – to even the Stanley Cup series before Saturday’s pivotal Game 5.
Can Edmonton keep its momentum going as the series returns to Canada? We’ll cover that and provide bettors with our three top player prop bets for Thursday’s game.
The Panthers’ leading scorer during the regular season – captain Sam Reinhart – has been quiet during these playoffs. The 29-year-old Canadian has scored only six goals in 19 postseason games after hammering home 39 earlier this year.
Despite his productivity slump, he’s still putting up shots. Against Edmonton, Reinhart has 17 total attempts thus far, taking at least three shots per game. There’s no reason bettors should take the under on this player prop bet.
With some long-shot odds in our next pick, we’re going for a sure-fire player prop for bettors. Edmonton’s Connor McDavid is his team’s leading scorer after earning 26 assists during the playoffs.
It’s the second postseason in a row with at least that many assists. Outside of Monday’s horrible Game 3 showing, he’s scored at least one point in every other Stanley Cup Finals contest. Expect that trend to continue on Saturday as he covers this scoring prop wager.
With both goalies having authored poor performances in Game 4, oddsmakers are leery about serving up player props on either side’s stopper. We’ll dig a little deeper into our bag of tricks for a hat-trick of scorers for your betting considerations.
The best scorer in this series hasn’t been Draisaitl despite his late-game heroics. Instead, that honor belongs to Florida center Sam Bennett. He’s leading the high-scoring Panthers in goals, netting 14 shots during his playoff run.
This postseason, he’s been the first scorer in two contests. He opened the postseason for Florida with the game’s first goal against the Tampa Bay Lightning. He did the same in Game 2 against the Oilers. Expect him to start the scoring in Game 5, covering this player prop bet.
The Panthers seemingly had solved Edmonton’s defense after posting back-to-back games with five or more goals in the Stanley Cup Finals. And for one period on Thursday, Florida’s ability to score looked like it would land a fatal blow for the Oilers.
Edmonton’s second-period answer showed how competitive this series will be until the final buzzer sounds. It’s also why picking either Florida or Edmonton to win Game 5 is a riskier bet than taking the over on the total goals scored wager.
Florida has scored five or more goals in 11 postseason games thus far, and the Panthers have a realistic chance to beat the 1985 Oilers’ record of 98 goals in a single postseason. The Oilers can also score, and every game thus far has finished with at least seven goals scored.