Premium NHL Pick: December 27th

Today we have one premium pick.

Boston Bruins @ Florida Panthers:

Third meeting between the clubs. Boston Bruins had won the first two, one being in Florida last month. Bruins outscored the Panthers 7-1 in two games. Florida Panthers are 1-6 SU in last 7 games against Boston on home ice.

Panthers have been surprising me as of late. They beat Buffalo twice in their last 5 games and they also beat the Philadelphia Flyers 5-0 on road. That was partciularly a very surprising and impressive result. The two losses came in Pittsburgh against the Penguins and one on home ice against the Canes.

Ranked at 8th in the league in overall scoring at home, Panthers have a 3.3 Goals per game average while the Bruins are 9-5-1 on road this season.

Bruins are the toughest team to score on in the league as goaltender Tim Thomas is having a very good season. 2.1 goals per game allowed by the Bruins makes it difficult for their opponents in any game. However, they have dropped three of their last five games. They beat the Atlanta Thrashers 4-1 last Thursday. It was a very convincing performance by the Bruins that night. They have two losses in a row on road as they lost in Buffalo and Montreal.

Bruins will be without Mark Stuart and Trent Whitfield but they are healthy other than these players. Thomas will make another start tonight while Panthers have more injury problems. Bitz, Dvorak, Olesz and Stillman are still out with injuries. Clemenssen is expected to be between the pipes as Vokoun is expected to be given a rest. 

I will side with Bruins in this game. They looked very good in the last Atlanta game and they have been playing good games against Panthers. Panthers home defense is ranked at 19th in the league and Bruins are pretty good on road with 3.1 goals per game. Despite some of the surprising results, I think Bruins are the better side.

PICK: BOSTON BRUINS TO WIN [Moneyline]

3 units @ 1.74 [at Pinnacle]

Outcome: