Adam Williams presents his prediction for the NHL match.
While the Florida Panthers risk failing to defend their championship title as they currently sit outside the play-off zone, the Vegas Golden Knights are also under pressure, having recently lost their divisional lead. Both sides badly need a win here.
Vegas Golden Knights
The Vegas Golden Nights have been forced to cope without their starting goaltender Adin Hill for several weeks, but Akira Schmid has done a commendable job — six wins and the best winning percentage of his career so far. However, even with him between the pipes, the Knights suffered a costly overtime defeat to the Anaheim Ducks (3:4 OT), allowing the Ducks to take over the Pacific Division lead. Now, the Vegas Golden Knights trail them by five points. Jack Eichel, having collected only three points in his last four games, has dropped from first to sixth in the scoring race (22 points).
Florida Panthers
It’s still only a month into the season, and the Florida Panthers are just three points off the wild card zone, yet they are far from the level expected of the reigning champions. The absences of Aleksander Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk have clearly hurt the side. The Panthers are averaging just 2.60 goals per game (28th in the league) — a step down even from last season’s modest 3.00. Brad Marchand leads the team with 16 points but sits only 33rd in the Art Ross Trophy race.
Vegas Golden Knights vs Florida Panthers Prediction
Most of the Florida Panthers’ struggles come away from home. On their current road trip, they have lost all three matches with a combined score of 6:15, and overall they have only two wins from eight away games. Given these numbers, backing the Vegas Golden Knights not to lose while expecting a relatively low-scoring match seems the logical choice.
