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Oilers at Panthers Stanley Cup Final Game 1 odds, expert picks: Florida opens as favorite
After a week-long wait, the 2024 Stanley Cup Final has finally arrived. It all begins on Saturday night (8 p.m ET, ABC) as the Florida Panthers host the Edmonton Oilers in Game 1 of the series.
For the Panthers, this is relatively familiar territory. They were just here a year ago, eventually losing to the Vegas Golden Knights.
For this Oilers core, this is uncharted territory. They try to not only end Canada’s Stanley Cup drought (going back to Montreal in 1993) but help land Connor McDavid the only thing his resume is missing: a Stanley Cup.
That is going to be the dominant storyline for most of the series, especially at the start. And if the Oilers are actually able to pull this off, it seems like it’s going to have to be on the backs of their top three players (McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Evan Bouchard). They have been the driving force behind almost all of this run, as at least one of them has been on the ice for 55 of the Oilers’ 63 goals this postseason. At least two of them have been on the ice for 45 of the goals.
McDavid alone has been on the ice for 42 of them and had a direct hand in 31 of them (five goals, 26 assists).
It’s rare that such a top-heavy team reaches this point, but it is a testament to how dominant the Oilers’ top players are and have been in this year’s playoffs. If McDavid gets his Cup carrying this much of the weight offensively, it will only add to his legend.
Odds are from BetMGM and update live. Buy tickets to see your favorite team on StubHub.
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Edmonton Oilers at Florida Panthers — Game 1
How to watch: 8 p.m. ET on ABC, SN
Series odds: Panthers -130, Oilers +110
- The Oilers might legitimately be having the best special teams postseason performance in NHL history. Their 37.3 percent power play success rate is the second-best all-time for teams with at least 15 games in a single postseason, while their 93.9 percent penalty killing success rate is the best all-time for teams with at least 15 games in a single postseason.
- Oilers defenseman Evan Bouchard is just 10 points behind Paul Coffey for the most points in a single postseason for a defender. Coffey had 37 points in 1984-85, while Bouchard enters this series with 27 points.
- Florida Panthers forward Carter Verhaeghe has become one of the best big-game players in the playoffs in the past few years. Since the start of the 2021-22 playoffs, his nine postseason game-winning goals are the most in the NHL during that time. No other player in the league during that stretch has more than six game-winning goals.
- McDavid is going to get a big challenge in this series going against Aleksander Barkov. In the first three rounds, Nikita Kucherov, David Pastrnak and Artemi Panarin played 85 minutes of even-strength hockey against Barkov’s line and combined to score exactly one goal between the three of them in those minutes.
- Neither starting goalie — Florida’s Sergei Bobrovsky or Edmonton’s Stuart Skinner — has been especially dominant at any point in this postseason. Bobrovsky’s .908 save percentage is fourth out of nine goalies with at least six appearances this postseason, while Skinner’s .897 is seventh out of that group. Given the strength of both offenses, this has the potential to be a high-scoring series.
Expert picks for Oilers at Panthers
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(Photo of Connor McDavid and Stuart Skinner: Codie McLachlan / Getty Images)
Austin Smotherman will carry a three-stroke lead into the weekend at the Cognizant Classic at The Palm Beaches.
Smotherman followed his opening 62 with a 2-under-par 69 on Friday at PGA National’s Champion Course in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. That brought him to 11 under, comfortably clear of Taylor Moore, who is in second after his second straight 4-under 67.
Cognizant Classic scoreboard
“Yeah, leading a PGA Tour event, come on, pretty awesome,” Smotherman said.
Smotherman, 31, is in fine position for his first win on the PGA Tour since turning pro a decade ago. He has won three times on the Korn Ferry Tour, including last June.
Afterwards, he credited himself with playing “Austin Smotherman golf.” When asked what that meant, he responded, “as boring and simple as it can be.
“That’s what I want to do out there. I feel like I ball strike it good enough to have that kind of boring golf, a bunch of fairways ideally,” he said.
He suffered three bogeys Friday after a bogey-free opening round, but the key stretch for him after starting on the back nine was between Nos. 17 and 3. He birdied four holes in that stretch, starting with a 54-foot bomb at the par-3 17th hole.
“Anything under par I thought would have been (good) following up a round like yesterday, which was a special one,” he said, “and try not to get too far ahead of myself thinking I’m going to make every long putt I’m looking at, like kind of was the feeling yesterday, and then today I still make a 55-footer on 17.”
Moore overcame a bogey in each half of his round with three birdies on either nine, more than counterbalancing the rough patches to earn his second straight solid score.
“I think very different 67s,” Moore said when comparing his rounds. “I didn’t hit many fairways yesterday, kind of grinded a lot, had a couple chip-ins, which obviously helps. I thought I struck the ball much better today. Drove it in the fairways on the par-5s, I felt like. Yeah, still had a few up-and- downs, obviously, with the tough windy conditions this afternoon, but overall I thought it was solid.”
Canadian A.J. Ewart had the round of the day, a 64 that powered him to 7 under for the week. He’s tied with Colombia’s Nico Echavarria (72), and Joel Dahmen is in fifth at 6 under after a second consecutive 68.
Ewart, who played for nearby Barry University in college, came in with some familiarity.
“We used to come and watch this tournament when I was at school. I think I came up here twice, maybe three times and watched,” Ewart said. “I had never actually played the golf course, but I felt like I knew it just from watching it.”
Irishman Shane Lowry, one of the most recognizable players in the field, is in a large knot for sixth at 5 under after posting a 67. Defending champion Joe Highsmith made the cut on the number at even par.
Notable players who missed the cut included Webb Simpson (1 over), Gary Woodland (2 over), Matt Kuchar (2 over) and Canada’s Adam Hadwin (3 over).
Kim maintains narrow lead in Singapore
Auston Kim maintained a narrow lead over three seasoned competitors with a 3-under-par 69 on Friday at the HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore.
Kim carded five birdies and a double-bogey at the par-5 16th hole at Sentosa Golf Club to move to 9-under par, one shot ahead of major champions Minjee Lee of Australia (64 on Friday) and Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn (67) and three- time LPGA Tour winner Haeran Ryu of South Korea (68).
Lurking two shots back at 7-under in the no-cut event are Australia’s Hannah Green (66), Denmark’s Nanna Koerstz Madsen (68), Sweden’s Linn Grant (69) and England’s Mimi Rhodes (69).
Kim, an LPGA Tour member since 2024, has been knocking on the door of her first tour win. The American has eight finishes in the top 10 and was the runner-up at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship last season.
“I think just sticking to my process. I’m trying to earn each shot and win each shot and win each day,” Kim, 25, said of her strategy heading into the weekend. “I can put a hundred percent of my focus into every single shot and try my best to execute each time, I’ll do well.”
Lee soared into contention with an eagle at the par-4 second hole and six birdies in a bogey-free round.
“I think just I holed a few more putts out there,” Lee said of the difference between Friday’s play and her opening-round of 72. “I holed a few long ones and I also holed out for eagle on the second. That always helps the score.”
Jutanugarn had six birdies, including three straight from holes Nos. 5-7, and one bogey.
Ryu collected four birdies in a round free of bogeys, but not free from pain.
“Today, my neck was so bad and I cannot turn it around, it’s so hard, my neck,” Ryu said. “But yeah, golf is not perfect. I just think about it, just hit the fairway and the green. Yeah, that’s good for me. There’s a lot of birdies, and yeah, I’m so happy.”
Angel Yin matched Lee for the low round of the day with a 64 to move into a tie for ninth at 6-under.
Defending champion Lydia Ko of New Zealand (72) remained a 2-under posting four birdies and four bogeys.
World No. 1 Jeeno Thitikul of Thailand is tied for 33rd at 1-under after a round of 70.
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