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2023 Stanley Cup Final odds: Golden Knights slight favorites over Panthers

After thwarting the Dallas Stars comeback Monday night, the Golden Knights open as small favorites to beat the Panthers in the Stanley Cup Final.

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - JANUARY 12: Aleksander Barkov #16 of the Florida Panthers passes against William Karlsson #71 of the Vegas Golden Knights in the first period of their game at T-Mobile Arena on January 12, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Golden Knights defeated the Panthers 4-2. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - JANUARY 12: Aleksander Barkov #16 of the Florida Panthers passes against William Karlsson #71 of the Vegas Golden Knights in the first period of their game at T-Mobile Arena on January 12, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Golden Knights defeated the Panthers 4-2. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)Read moreEthan Miller / Getty Images
    by Michael Leboff, Action Network
    Published 

The Vegas Golden Knights are the betting favorites in the Stanley Cup Final. The Golden Knights are a -130 favorite to beat the Florida Panthers in the best-of-7 series, while the Cats are currently priced as a slight +110 underdog.

The odds for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final come close to reflecting the series prices, with Vegas sitting at -135 to win Saturday’s curtain-raiser, while the Panthers are priced at +115 at the time of writing. The Over/Under is set at 5.5 for now.

Odds via BetMGM, current at time of writing and subject to change.

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2023 Stanley Cup Final Odds (via BetMGM)

  1. Florida Panthers: +110

  2. Vegas Golden Knights: -130

If you were going by the odds at the beginning of the season, it wouldn’t be a huge surprise to see Florida and Vegas in the Stanley Cup Final. The Panthers, who were coming off a Presidents’ Trophy in 2021-22, were one of the betting favorites at +900, while the Knights were in the middle of the pack but had plenty of buy-low support as a +2500 outsider.

But if you were going by the odds and narrative from the beginning of the postseason, you’d say this was a pretty hefty surprise. Florida was the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference and only made the playoffs because the Pittsburgh Penguins losing to the last-place Chicago Blackhawks in their penultimate game. Florida was playing strong hockey down the stretch, but they had to play the record-setting Boston Bruins in Round 1 and then would face the Toronto Maple Leafs in Round 2. The Cats were significant underdogs in both series.

» READ MORE: Nuggets open NBA Finals matchup with Heat as big favorites to win Game 1 and series

As for the Knights, they ended up as the No. 1 overall seed in the Western Conference, but were just a lukewarm favorite over the Winnipeg Jets in Round 1. This sentiment put the Knights in a weird spot. Sure, Vegas had the best regular season of any team in the Western Conference, but nobody seemed to think the Golden Knights would be able to get past the red-hot Edmonton Oilers or Colorado Avalanche.

With both teams having plenty of momentum and not much margin in the odds, it’ll be interesting to see which team ends up attracting more money in the market. The safe bet seems to be the Golden Knights since they’re located in the sports gambling capital of the world, but the Panthers have treated bettors quite well this spring and they’ll certainly get plenty of love as an underdog.

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