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Florida Panthers vs New York Rangers: Eastern Conference Finals – Game 5
The New York Rangers and the Florida Panthers are tied with two games apiece in the Eastern Conference Finals and one team will take the lead when they meet on Thursday night at Madison Square Garden.
The Panthers are still here
The Florida Panthers tied the series at 2-2, with Sam Reinhart scoring an overtime goal to win the game. Reinhart leads the league in power play goals this season and scored his 65th goal of the year early in overtime. Sam Bennett and Carter Verhaeghe scored in a five-minute stretch in the second period to give the Panthers a 2-1 lead. Sergei Bobrovsky was solid as usual, stopping 21 shots for the Panthers. Matthew Tkachuk leads the team with 19 points in the playoffs, followed by Aleksander Barkov and Carter Verhaeghe, who have 17 points each.
The Rangers are back home
The New York Rangers won the President’s Trophy this season, and now they are targeting the ultimate prize, the Stanley Cup Trophy. The Rangers won two consecutive games in overtime before losing the last one the same way. They took the lead in Game 4, with Vincent Trocheck nearing the midpoint of the first period. The Rangers allowed two goals in the second period, and Alexis Lafreniere tied the score in the final one. Trocheck leads the Rangers with 19 points so far in the postseason, and Artemi Panarin and Mika Zibanejad have 14 points each.
Betting Trends
The Rangers are 12-4 SU in their last 16 games overall, 7-2 SU in the last 9 home games and 4-1 SU in the last 5 games played on Thursday. New York has played over the total goal line in 16 of the last 20 games against Florida and 9 of the last 12 home games against them. They have played under the total goal line in 4 of their last 5 games against teams from the Atlantic Division. The Panthers are 14-5 SU in the last 19 games overall and 6-3 SU in the last 9 games against teams from the Eastern Conference. They have played under the total goal line in 6 of their last 7 games overall and 4 of the last 5 played on the road.
Prediction and Conclusion
The Rangers and the Panthers are going into Game 5 of the Eastern Conference series with a tied score, and the last three games have gone to overtime. The series could not be more interesting than it is, and only small details will make the difference at the end. The Rangers have the home court advantage, which is huge as they have won seven of the last nine at MSG. However, that does not guarantee them anything, as Florida already won one game in New York. Looking at the past games between these two teams, they are going over the total goal line most of the time, but given the stakes and all the pressure that comes with this game, we are going with under 5.5 goals in total.
