NHL Thursday best bets: Backing 2 road warriors

We have a fun eight-game slate ahead of us Thursday night. Let's take a look at a couple of my favorite ways to attack it.

The Senators have traded wins and losses of late, but they've quietly posted some very strong underlying numbers.

Even without top defenseman Thomas Chabot, they've shown the ability to consistently outchance their opponents.

They've won the expected goals battle in five of the past six games, coming 0.17 short in the lone exception against a Hurricanes team known for its five-on-five dominance.

The Senators' mediocre defense and inconsistent goaltending mean their positive chance differentials aren't always going to lead to results.

It should be a different story against a team like the Blues. They've struggled at five-on-five all season long. While the team recently fired head coach Craig Berube, the reality is this Blues team simply isn't very good.

They have a lot of players providing nowhere close to the value they're being paid to bring. A lot of said players are veterans on the back nine of their careers, meaning there isn't much reason to expect a sudden change.

I think the Senators' team speed and skill up front will cause a lot of problems for a declining Blues side making schematic adjustments under a new coach.

Look for Brady Tkachuk, Tim Stutzle, and the Senators' big guns to exploit this vulnerable Blues defense.

Bet: Senators (-120)

One of the trademarks of a great team is having a response when things go the other way. That's been the Panthers' calling card all season. They've lost two consecutive games only once since Oct. 14.

I expect their streak to continue at least a little longer. The Panthers are a well-oiled machine that can win in so many different ways.

At five-on-five, they continue to generate shots in bulk while allowing very few. Their penalty kill is near the top of the league in almost every key metric, and the power play is very dangerous. It's hard to get an edge over the Panthers in any area.

I think they're going to be able to control the run of play at even strength in this game. The Canucks' season numbers are pretty good but have dipped of late. They've controlled just over 46% of the expected goals share in December, nearly 10% lower than the Panthers.

The Canucks also continue to struggle on the penalty kill. Over the last 10 games, they sit 21st in expected goals against and 26th in goals against while undermanned.

That spells trouble heading into a game against Aleksander Barkov, Matthew Tkachuk, and some of the Panthers' lethal power-play weapons.

I think the Panthers are going to come out hungry after their worst performance of the season in Seattle.

Given the Panthers are performing at good-to-great levels in every game state, they're poised to cool off a Canucks side that's generated a league-low 63 shots over its three-game winning streak.

Bet: Panthers (-120)

Todd Cordell is a sports betting writer at theScore. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @ToddCordell.

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