The Pittsburgh Penguins are down in Sunrise to take on the Florida Panthers on Friday night.
Pittsburgh has lost three straight to drop to 11-11-3 on the season, including 6-5-2 on the road. Meanwhile, the Panthers got back on track with a win over Dallas on Wednesday night to improve to 15-8-2 on the season and 8-4-0 at home.
Can the Panthers take down the Penguins at home as NHL odds favorite? Read on for our Penguins vs. Panthers NHL picks and predictions for Friday, December 8.
Penguins vs Panthers odds
Penguins vs Panthers predictions
The Florida Panthers have been able to avoid a Stanley Cup Final hangover early in the season, even without top defensemen Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour for the first several weeks. They're playing great hockey and firing a ton of shots on net.
One of the defensemen that has stepped up this season is Gustav Forsling. He may not receive the same recognition as the rest of the Panthers' top players, but he's been a solid contributor for them over the past few years.
Forsling is playing nearly 23 minutes a night on the top pair and has been shooting the puck a lot as of late.
The defenseman has 17 shots in his last six games with at least two shots in all six contests. He hasn’t missed a beat with Ekblad and Montour back in action. In fact, he’s been shooting the puck more if anything.
Along with those 17 shots on goal, Forsling has also had another 13 shot attempts that were either blocked or missed the net. He’s being aggressive with the puck and that’s what we like to see when looking for a shots on goal prop.
The Pittsburgh Penguins allow over 31 shots per game and allowed at least 33 shots in eight of their last 10 games. Forsling should be able to get a few shots on net tonight against the Pens.
My best bet: Gustav Forsling Over 1.5 Shots on Goal (-166 via DraftKings)
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Penguins vs Panthers same-game parlay
Gustav Forsling Over 1.5 shots on goal
Panthers moneyline
Under 6.5 goals
We’re starting our same-game parlay with the best bet of Forsling to have at least two shots on goal. After that, we’re backing the Panthers to get the job done at home.
The Cats are 8-4-0 at home this season while the Penguins are just 6-5-2 on the road. Pittsburgh is in a bit of a slide recently as well with three straight losses and losses in six of its last eight games.
The Penguins have been struggling to score this season, but especially as of late. Their 2.96 goals per game is in the bottom 12 of the NHL and they've scored just 19 goals in their last nine games (3-3-3).
Forsling to record two shots on goal and the Panthers moneyline gets us to +146. We’re going to add a final leg of Under 6.5 to get up to +373.
Both the Penguins and Panthers have trended toward the Under this season. The Under is 15-7-2 in Pittsburgh games and 13-11-0 in Florida games.
Those trends are even stronger recently with the Penguins going under in nine of their last 10 games -- the exception was a 4-3 shootout loss. While the Panthers have gone Over in each of their last two games, they had five straight Unders prior to that.
The Cats should be able to keep the Pens at bay tonight.
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Penguins vs Panthers moneyline and Over/Under analysis
The Panthers opened at -148 but are now as high as -166 favorites at home. The best price you can get on Florida is at -160. In turn, the Penguins are up to +140 after opening at +124.
The total opened at 6.5 and remains there across the board with both the Over and Under around -110.
As you can tell by the same-game parlay, I’m on the Panthers and Under tonight.
Penguins vs Panthers betting trend to know
The Under is 9-1 in the Penguins last 10 games. Find more NHL betting trends for Penguins vs. Panthers.
Penguins vs Panthers game info
| Location: | Amerant Bank Arena, Sunrise, FL |
| Date: | Friday, December 8, 2023 |
| Puck drop: | 7:00 p.m. ET |
| TV: | NHL Network |
Penguins vs Panthers latest injuries
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