The New York Islanders and Florida Panthers square off on Saturday, August 1st to open their five-game qualifying round series. The winner advances to the Stanley Cup Playoffs, while the loser is entered into the NHL Draft lottery.
The Islanders enter the series as -122 favorites against the +100 Panthers. This is the second slimmest line at DraftKings Sportsbook, with only Vancouver-Minnesota ahead of it at Canucks -121. New York won all three games between these two teams during the regular season, so it’s not surprising to see the public backing them against. 63 percent of bets and handle are currently on the higher seed.
The public is heavily backing the Islanders in Game 1 of the series. The team is -115 on the money line and we’re seeing 82 percent of all money on them to win outright. The Islanders are -1.5 on the puck line, and we’re seeing 94 percent of all handle on them to cover that line. The public expects a low scoring matchup, with 61 percent of handle and 51 percent of bets on under 5.5 goals.
Game 1 of the series gets going at 4 ET on Saturday. Here is the Islanders-Panthers series schedule.
Saturday, Aug. 1: Panthers vs. Islanders, 4 p.m. | NBCSN, NHL.TV, SN1, TVAS, MSG+, FS-F
Tuesday, Aug. 4: Panthers vs. Islanders, 12 p.m. | NBCSN, NHL.TV, SN, TVAS, MSG+, FS-F
Wednesday, Aug. 5: Islanders vs. Panthers, 12 p.m. | NBCSN, NHL.TV, SN, TVAS, FS-F, MSG+
Friday, Aug. 7: Islanders vs. Panthers*
Sunday, Aug. 9: Panthers vs. Islanders*
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