Arizona Coyotes (24-16-4) at Florida Panthers (22-15-5)
NHL Hockey: Tuesday, January 7, 2020 at 7:00 pm (BB&T Center)
The Line: Florida Panthers / Arizona Coyotes --- Over/Under: Click Here for the Latest Odds
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The Arizona Coyotes and Florida Panthers meet Tuesday in NHL action at the BB&T Center.
The Arizona Coyotes look for a win after splitting their last 12 games. The Arizona Coyotes are averaging 2.7 goals per game and are scoring on 19.8 percent of their power play opportunities. Conor Garland leads Arizona with 14 goals, Nick Schmaltz has 28 assists and Oliver Ekman-Larsson has 95 shots on goal. Defensively, the Arizona Coyotes are allowing 2.5 goals per game and are killing 82.5 percent of their opponents power plays. Darcy Kuemper has given up 55 goals on 772 shots faced and Antti Raanta has allowed 48 goals on 604 shots. The Arizona Coyotes have allowed three or less goals in eight of their last 11 games.
The Florida Panthers look to stay hot after winning seven of their last 10 games. The Florida Panthers are averaging 3.5 goals per game and are scoring on 23.1 percent of their power play opportunities. Jonathan Huberdeau leads Florida with 17 goals, Aleksander Barkov has 33 assists and Mike Hoffman has 115 shots on goal. Defensively, the Florida Panthers are allowing 3.3 goals per game and are killing 79.1 percent of their opponents power plays. Sergei Bobrovsky has given up 102 goals on 967 shots faced and Sam Montembeault has allowed 20 goals on 180 shots. The Florida Panthers have allowed three or less goals in five of their last 10 games.
The Coyotes are 4-0 in their last 4 games playing on 2 days rest, 4-1 in their last 5 Tuesday games and 3-8 in their last 11 games following a win. The Panthers are 4-0 in their last 4 home games, 4-1 in their last 5 vs. Western Conference and 7-3 in their last 10 overall. The under is 18-7-1 in Coyotes last 26 road games. The over is 4-0-1 in Panthers last 5 home games. The Coyotes are 0-5 in the last 5 meetings in Florida and 1-4 in the last 5 meetings. The home team is 10-1 in the last 11 meetings. The favorite is 5-0 in the last 5 meetings.
These are two teams I've got behind often this season and see potential in both sides. The difference here is that the Florida Panthers have more upside and are finally showing flashes of improved defense. I've said it before, but the Panthers are a legit dark horse title contender if the defense can simply improve to just an average level. At home, I'm riding the hot Panthers to get another victory.
Randy’s Pick Florida Panthers
AUTHOR: Randy Chambers
Follow Randy Chambers on Twitter @WizardOf0dds