Florida Panthers vs Ottawa Senators Prediction NHL Picks 10/10/24

The Florida Panthers and the Ottawa Senators meet Thursday night in NHL action from the Canadian Tire Center. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best bets for this game. Here’s a Florida Panthers vs. Ottawa Senators prediction.

Florida Panthers Recap

The Florida Panthers come into this one looking to build some momentum after starting the year with a bang, kicking off their Stanley Cup title defense with a 6-4 win over the Boston Bruins last time out. After this game, the Panthers will continue on their road trip for a matchup with the Buffalo Sabres.

Bennett Leads Charge For Panthers

Sam Bennett led the way for Florida with a pair of goals while Sam Reinhart and Evan Rodrigues each had a goal and an assist. Jonah Gadjovich and Eetu Luostarinen each had a goal as well while Uvis Balinskis, Aleksander Barkov, Aaron Ekblad, Anton Lundell, Matthew Tkachuk, and Jesper Boqvist all added assists for Florida in the win. Sergei Bobrovsky got the win for the Panthers in goal after stopping 24 of the 28 shots faced in the winning effort.

Why the Florida Panthers will win

• The Panthers have won 12 of their last 13 games following a home win.
• The Senators have lost three of their last four home games against Eastern Conference opponents.
• The Panthers have covered the puck line in each of their last six Thursday games against the Senators.
• The Senators have failed to cover the puck line in three of their last four home games against Eastern Conference opponents.

Ottawa Senators Team Preview

The Ottawa Senators come into this one looking to exorcise some demons after finishing with a 37-41-4 mark in 2023-24, missing the playoffs for the 7th straight season. Injuries played a part in Ottawa’s offensive dropoff last season, but Tim Stutzle is expected to rebound after logging 18 goals and 70 points last year. This is still a young Senators team, but championship veteran pedigree was added with the signings of guys like David Perron, Michael Amadio, and Nick Cousins. Defensively, Thomas Chabot is hoping for a clean bill of health to lead Ottawa’s defensive unit, while Nick Jensen was acquired from Washington for Jakob Chychrun and Jake Sanderson and Artem Zub will likely make up the top pairing on Ottawa’s depth chart. In goal, Ottawa was bailed out from the bad contract given to Joonas Korpisalo and acquired former Vezina trophy winner Linus Ullmark to try to right the ship in Canada’s capital. Anton Forsberg will be a nice complimentary piece, but the expectation is that Ullmark will see the majority of the workload.

Why the Ottawa Senators will win

• The Senators have won each of their last two home openers as underdogs.
• The Senators have covered the puck line in each of their last four home openers.
• The Panthers have failed to cover the puck line in five of their last six games against Eastern Conference opponents.

Panthers vs. Senators Prediction

I’m leaning towards the Panthers here. I know this feels like it could set up as a bit of a letdown for Florida after that season-opening win on banner-raising night against a solid Boston team, but I’m not ready to jump in with the Senators just yet without seeing what this new look Ottawa team has on the ice and this is going to be a great litmus test to see where the Sens are at, by facing the defending champions. Would it surprise me if Florida ran a backup scenario here? No, but I still think Florida’s depth reigns supreme here so give me Florida.