The National Hockey League (NHL) has just the one playoff game on the slate for Saturday night. The Carolina Hurricanes and Florida Panthers shift their best-of-seven Eastern Conference Finals series to Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Fla. for Game 3. The Panthers lead the series 2-0, winning the first two games by a combined 10-2. Puck drop is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET, and the game can be viewed or streamed on TNT/truTV/Max.
We feature solid NHL same-game parlays (SGPs) with our top NHL picks and props for Saturday’s battles. These parlays come with +400 odds or higher.
Saturday’s Best NHL Playoffs Same Game Parlay Bets
(Odds courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook)
Carolina Hurricanes at Florida Panthers – Parlay Option #1
- Leg 1: Panthers Moneyline (-152)
- Leg 2: Under 6.5 Goals – Alt Line (-230)
- Leg 3: Carter Verhaeghe – Over 0.5 Points (-138)
- Leg 4: Will There be Overtime? – No (-460)
- Leg 5: Will Both Teams Score? – Yes (-1000)
The Carolina Hurricanes entered the Eastern Conference Finals with a ton of promise after dropping the New Jersey Devils in the first round and the Washington Capitals in the second round, winning each series by five games. However, the Canes have run into an absolute buzzsaw, the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers.
The Panthers went to Lenovo Center in Raleigh, N.C., and won the series opener 5-2, while taking care of the Hurricanes 5-0 in Game 2. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped all 17 shots he faced for his third shutout of the playoffs, improving to 10-4-0 with a 2.13 goals-against average (GAA) and .910 save percentage (SV%) across 14 games. Couple that with his 16-8-0 record, 2.33 GAA and .906 SV% last season as the Panthers won the Stanley Cup, while he went 12-6-0 with 2.78 GAA and .915 SV% in 18 games in the 2022-23 season. That’s 38 total victories across the past three postseasons.
Florida fired out to a 1-0 lead courtesy of Gustav Forsling, who notched an even-strength goal with assists to Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Bennett. It was Forsling’s first goal of the playoffs. Tkachuk was back on the scoresheet at 11:41 of the first period, while Sam Bennett posted a power-play goal after Andrei Svechnikov took a stupid penalty near the end of the first period.
In the second period, Bennett had an even-strength goal, with Carter Verhaeghe picking up a primary assist on a third consecutive score. After two periods, head coach Rod Brind’Amour had seen enough, benching Andersen in favor of Pyotr Kochetkov. The latter made four saves on five shots, as Aleksander Barkov was able to register a power-play goal against Kochetkov.
Andersen was beaten five times on just 20 shots in Game 1, and he conceded four goals on 16 shots in Game 2. That’s a shocking turn of events after allowing just 12 total goals in his first nine playoff games. His GAA has jumped from 1.36 to 2.01 as a result of the two poor showings against the Panthers.
Florida’s Eetu Luostarinen logged a team-high eight hits, while Barkov, Aaron Ekblad and Seth Jones blocked three shots. Anton Lundell was the star at the faceoff dot, winning nine of his 13 attempts, good for a 69.2% mark.
Carolina’s Jordan Staal was able to record a team-best seven hits, while Brett Burns stepped in front of five shots to lead the team. Svechnikov had a minus-3 rating, and he had the stupid penalty. Sebastian Aho won 10 of 14 faceoff attempts, good for 71.4%.
We’ll roll with the Panthers on home ice, looking to push the Hurricanes to the brink of elimination. Carolina has dropped 14 consecutive games in the conference finals round, dating back to a Game 7 win against the Buffalo Sabres in 2002. Why not keep fading the Hurricanes until they can finally get over the hump?
And let’s go low on the total, as the Hurricanes have scored just two total goals in this series. Frederik Andersen needs to be better, and Carolina needs to stay out of the box. Will those things both happen? Maybe. Maybe not. But, you have to think the Canes will be a little more careful heading on the road, facing a must-win situation. As mentioned above, we’ll go with the alternate total, just to be on the safe side. Don’t the alternate total straight up, though, as it will cost you more than two times your potential return.
For the props, we’ll go with Carter Verhaeghe to get to at least one point. He had a goal and an assist in Game 1 in Raleigh, while cashing in with three assists in Game 2. Let’s go with Verhaeghe to get at least one point in Game 3.
To help bolster our SGP, let’s go with No (-470) – Will There be Overtime?, although, again, don’t bet that straight up. There is no value. And, go with Yes (-950) – Both Teams to Score? to get you some extra value for your parlay.
Parlay Odds: +422
Carolina Hurricanes at Florida Panthers – Parlay Option #2
- Leg 1: Panthers Moneyline (-152)
- Leg 2: Under 6.5 Goals – Alt Line (-230)
- Leg 3: Carter Verhaeghe – Over 0.5 Points (-138)
- Leg 4: Matthew Tkachuk – Over 0.5 Points (-215)
- Leg 5: Sam Bennett – 2+ Shots on Goal – 60 Min. (-480)
In our second parlay option, we’ll stick with the first three legs from above, but we’ll also add on a few extra pieces. Take out the OT and Both Teams to Score props, and let’s go more player-based.
Let’s add in Tkachuk to record at least one point, although don’t bet it straight up, as it will cost you more than two times than your return if you bet it straight up. We’ll take Bennett to get at least two shots on goal, too.
If you wanted to include those two props from above, while playing the additional player props, it would bump things up to +701.
Parlay Odds: +445
Make sure to check out our other best bets for Saturday:
