Bet on Game 2 between the Rangers and Panthers to end in overtime

Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals between the New York Rangers and Florida Panthers never really got going. The Cats ended up scoring the crucial victory, but it was never convincing.

Florida led, 1-0, until late into the third period when an own goal from Alexis Lafreniere with under four minutes to go finally afforded the Panthers some breathing room.

The Cats are a slight -115 favorite at the time of writing and the total is sitting at 5.5 with juice on the under, so the betting market is expecting another tight contest in Game 2 on Friday night.

Both the Rangers and Panthers will feel they did a strong job limiting scoring chances in Game 1, but both sides will also feel like they didn’t bring their A-game on offense on Wednesday night.

The controlled tempo of the game certainly seemed to benefit the Panthers, as the Rangers are always looking to pounce on mistakes and get chances on the rush going the other way. The Blueshirts did have a couple of big opportunities, but goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky stood tall in goal, giving the Rangers something they haven’t had to deal with yet this postseason: An on-form goalie.

In a low-event, stodgy game you almost assume that one team opted to just sit back and defend but that isn’t really the case. Florida relied on getting pucks behind the Rangers and going to work with their relentless forecheck to keep the puck on the right side of the red line. The Blueshirts struggled to break the puck out cleanly and spent so much effort getting out of their zone that they were gassed by the time they got over the blueline.

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We are likely to see an improvement from both teams offensively, but Game 1 seemed to set the tone for the series. Space will be limited and there just isn’t too much that separates these two clubs. I expect another tight contest on Friday night and that should keep the possibility of overtime in play throughout the evening.

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