NHL betting preview (May 20): Panthers vs. Hurricanes Game 1 odds

Nick Martin
Nick Martin
May 20, 2025, 12:15 EDT
Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Dmitry Orlov (7) hits Florida Panthers center Sam Reinhart (13) at the ned of the first period at Amerant Bank Arena
Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

Join Daily Faceoff’s Nick Martin as he handicaps Tuesday’s NHL playoff matchup between the Florida Panthers and Carolina Hurricanes.

Panthers vs. Hurricanes Game 1 Odds

  • Panthers Moneyline: +105
  • Hurricanes Moneyline: -125
  • Puck Line: Panthers +1.5 (-250), Hurricanes -1.5 (+200)
  • Game Total: 5.5 (Over +105, Under -125)

Game odds via Sports Interaction. Get Daily Faceoff’s Sports Interaction bonus code here!

Florida Panthers

The Florida Panthers have battled their way through a difficult Atlantic Division bracket, and have displayed many of the same strengths we saw throughout their back-to-back runs to the Stanley Cup Final.

The majority of coverage surrounding the Panthers’ blowout victory in Game 7 over the Toronto Maple Leafs has been focused on the low-hanging fruit in analyzing how the Leafs once again failed to find success in the postseason with their current roster core. While negative articles surrounding hockey’s largest market are always an effective way to get clicks, as we shift to Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Final, it’s important to credit the play of the Panthers in the later parts of the series.

The Panthers did a masterful job of forechecking a Leafs defensive core that does not move the puck overly well and imploring their defenders to aggressively press Toronto’s wingers on the walls, making controlled zone exits extremely difficult.

As a result, Toronto’s highly talented offensive core was unable to generate anything significant offensively in the final three games of the series, and it’s a style of play that has been proven to be very effective come the postseason. That strength will carry over into this series, just as it did in all four series last year during the Panthers’ Stanley Cup championship run.

The Hurricanes will present a tougher challenge for the Panthers defensive core at the other end of the ice, given their ability to take away time and space in a similar fashion. Chances are the Panthers will spend more time playing inside their own zone in this matchup, and it will likely be an entirely different-looking series than we saw versus a Leafs team that was stylistically designed to counterpunch under head coach Craig Berube this season.

The Panthers bottom six chipped in plenty of offense versus Toronto and had their way with a Leafs bottom six that was heavily outplayed and outscored this postseason.

Florida’s third line of Eetu Luostarinen, Anton Lundell, and Brad Marchand has been arguably the most effective line from any side in this postseason. They have outscored opponents 10-2, hold a 58.2% expected goal share, and have scored 5.11 goals per 60 throughout the opening two series.

The Panthers fourth line of AJ Greer, Tomas Nosek, and Jonah Gadjovich has scored 6.42 goals per 60 in a small sample of 28.1 minutes of play.

The Hurricanes are a drastically deeper side than the Leafs and will hope that can help to negate a bottom six that has been highly productive this postseason from contributing as much offensively.

Florida’s second line combinations involving Sam Bennett and Matthew Tkachuk with either Carter Verhaeghe or Evan Rodrigues have not been overly dominant this postseason, and Tkachuk in particular has really struggled, which has led to plenty of speculation that he is still playing through a significant injury.

In combination, those units hold a -1 goal differential. Tkachuk registered only four assists in seven games versus the Leafs, but it was not an overly relevant talking point given the production from further down the lineup.

The Panthers currently have zero skaters on the injury report entering this matchup and will likely utilize the same lineup as we saw in their commanding Game 7 victory.

Sergei Bobrovsky has not been asked to handle an overly strenuous workload this postseason, but has been relatively true to form when needed with a +1.8 GSAx rating and .901 save percentage, with those marks both being aided by three strong performances at the end of Round 2.

Carolina Hurricanes

The Carolina Hurricanes took advantage of a soft bracket to coast into the Eastern Conference Final without much stress and have taken just 10 games to get to this point.

Head coach Rod Brind’Amour’s side was highly effective defensively versus a Washington Capitals team which generated goals at the second-highest rate in the regular season in Round 2, as they allowed just 1.40 goals against per game in the series.

The Capitals arguably appeared to be the better side in Games 4 and 5 of the series, but Frederik Andersen outdueled Logan Thompson in those two matchups and has had an excellent postseason overall. Andersen holds a league-leading +12.2 GSAx rating and .937 save percentage this postseason.

This series will be a rematch of the 2023 Eastern Conference Final, which ultimately ended as a four-game sweep for the Panthers. Both teams are still offering the same roster core as in the 2023 series and are still playing similar hockey stylistically, with Brind’Amour and Maurice both remaining as head coaches.

The Panthers won the 2023 matchup with four one-goal victories, including two wins past regulation. As Brind’Amour noted after the series, it was much more closely contested than the final result suggested.

Bobrovsky finished the 2023 postseason with a league-leading +16.3 GSAx rating and .915 save percentage. Florida is a better team now than it was then, but if Andersen can continue to play at the level we have seen so far this postseason in this series, it should mean at least a few wins for the Hurricanes.

As noted, the Hurricanes’ depth is drastically superior to what the Leafs were offering and could help prevent the Panthers’ bottom six from being as effective offensively. The third line of Jordan Martinook, Jordan Staal and William Carrier is a highly effective checking unit, and the newly formed fourth line of Jackson Blake, Eric Robinson, and Jesperi Kotkaniemi has been very effective in a small sample.

Jaccob Slavin was entirely dominant versus the Capitals, finishing with a +5 rating while averaging 21:53 of ice time. He is arguably the best shutdown defender in the game and will likely handle an even larger workload in this series, which will surely be more of a test for the Hurricanes.

Best bet for Panthers vs. Hurricanes Game 1

This series will likely be very tight-checking, and generating quality scoring chances should prove to be quite difficult. By the later games of the series, we will likely see betting totals of 5, and probably hear more complaints from neutral observers about the Hurricanes’ style of play.

Both teams still offer many of the same strengths as they did when these teams last met in 2023, and in that series we saw an average of just 4.0 goals per game.

This looks to be a good spot to back Verhaeghe to record under 2.5 shots on goal at -115 in the series opener. Verhaeghe has gone over 2.5 shots in six of 12 games this postseason, which suggests it’s a fairly breakeven bet to begin with. The Hurricanes are one of the best teams in the league at suppressing opposing shooters, though, and with that in mind backing the under at -115 looks to present value.