Florida Panthers at Columbus Blue Jackets - 3/11/21 NHL Picks and Prediction
Photo by Russell LaBounty-USA TODAY Sports
Columbus Blue Jackets (10-12-5) vs Florida Panthers (16-5-4)
Game Info: Thursday, March 11, 2021 at 7:00 pm (Nationwide Arena)
Betting Odds: Columbus Blue Jackets +110 / Florida Panthers -130 --- Over/Under: 5.5 Click Here for the Latest Odds
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The Florida Panthers and the Columbus Blue Jackets meet in NHL action from the Nationwide Arena on Thursday night.
The Florida Panthers will look to build on their 4-2 win over Columbus in their last matchup. Jonathan Huberdeau leads the Panthers in scoring with 30 points coming on team-highs of 10 goals and 20 assists. Aleksander Barkov has 27 points with 19 assists and Patric Hornqvist has 21 points split between 10 goals and 11 assists this season. Aaron Ekblas has 18 points split between 9 goals and 9 assists while Carter Verhaeghe is 1 assists behind with his 17 points while Keith Yandle has 16 points with 13 assists. MacKenzie Weegar has 13 points and Alex Wnberg and Frank Vatrano each have 11 points this season. Sergei Bobrovsky and Chris Driedger continue to split time in goal for Florida, with Bobrovsky picking up 9 wins with a 2.94 GAA in 13 games played while Driedger has 7 wins and a 2.40 GAA in 12 appearances this season.
The Columbus Blue Jackets will be out to rebound from their loss to Florida last time out. Oliver Bjorkstrand and Cam Atkinson each have 19 points with Bjorkstrand logging 8 goals and 11 assists while Atkinson has a team-high 10 goals this season. Boone Jenner has 15 points with 8 goals and 7 assists while Jack Roslovic has 14 points with 5 goals and 9 assists. Patrik Laine and Seth Jones each have 13 points with Laine logging 8 goals while Jones has a team-high 12 assists. Nick Foligno also has 11 points with 4 goals and 7 apples this season. Joonas Korpisalo’s started the bulk of the action in goal for Columbus this season, picking up 7 wins with a 3.15 GAA this season.
Florida is 8-2 in their last 10 road games and 1-4 in their last 5 games following a win while the over is 3-0-1 in their last 4 games overall. Columbus is 1-4 in their last 5 home games and 1-6 in their last 7 games as an underdog while the over is 5-1 in their last 6 games against a team with a winning percentage above .600. Florida is 8-21 in the last 29 meetings between these two teams and 3-14 in the last 17 meetings between the two teams in Columbus.
The plus money with the Blue Jackets as a home dog in a revenge spot is tempting, but realistically, despite dominating the head-to-head trends, a lot of those wins came when Florida was a joke of a hockey team. The Panthers are one of the league’s best right now while the Blue Jackets continue to struggle with finding consistency and I just think this is another spot where we back the Panthers until Columbus shows us signs of life.
Chris’s Pick Florida -130
AUTHOR: Chris Ruffolo
Mitch's Take...
