Florida Panthers vs. Edmonton Oilers: Prediction, Preview, Picks & Odds - 11/28/2022

Time: 9:30 p.m. ET

Venue: Rogers Place, Edmonton, AB

Where to watch: TVAS, SN1, SNW, BSFLX

DraftKings: Oilers -120, Panthers +100

FanDuel: Oilers -115, Panthers +104

BetMGM: Even

Caesars: Oilers -115, Panthers -105

Panthers: 10-8-3

Oilers: 11-10-0

Panthers: lost 5-4 (OT) vs. Blues

Oilers: won 4-3 at Rangers

There is nothing better than two teams who have yet to find their way go at it in what could be conceived as an important game for both heading into the first week of December. But I think we're reaching a whole new territory in two teams trying to find their way as it pertains to the Florida Panthers and the Edmonton Oilers. The teams will meet in Edmonton on Monday and if the last few games are any indication, this is probably going to be the biggest toss-up on the NHL schedule on Monday.

Let's look at this from a rotter lens here. Florida has not looked good. Compared to last year's standards when the Panthers were breaking records left and right and looking like the best team in hockey for a long period of time, Florida has been pedestrian at best. It's not like they haven't gotten the production from their star players. When you look at how Matthew Tkachuk has been absolutely worth giving up Jonathan Huberdeau and Mackenzie Weegar in a trade in the offseason, nothing else has really been consistent with Florida. Goaltending has been average at best, the depth in the scoring department has not been great and now Florida has to navigate the waters without Sasha Barkov in the lineup due to an illness.

So how does Florida get back on track here? That's really the big question here because there really is no clear-cut answer. It certainly hasn't helped that top defenseman Aaron Ekblad has played just 10 games and has eight points because he's been out due to injury. It hasn't helped that the depth scoring that was there a year ago has kind of died down a little bit. Sam Reinhardt has just 12 points in 21 games, and Anton Lundell after a strong rookie season has just 11 points in 21 games. Sam Bennett is on a decent pace with 15 points in 21 games, and Barkov has kind of fallen off the pace a little bit with 18 points in 19 games. Really the only other offensive player that has looked remotely close to the production that he is expected to is Carter Verhaeghe with 19 points in the season and twelve goals in 21 games.

So there really does not seem to make any sense as to how Florida is struggling so much. The power play especially has fallen off to the bottom third in the league and the penalty kill has also fallen to the bottom half of the league. You can say that it is absolutely a bit of an adjustment under new coach Paul Maurice but this team is too talented to even let that happen.

Speaking of two talented to let mediocre performances happen, I feel like we get to do that with the Oilers every single year. Because once again, it is a situation where Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl are left to do everything by themselves with no help around them. Though it seems like as of late, especially after the 4-3 victory against the Rangers the other night in which Edmonton came back from three goals down, they appear to be getting some help along the way. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has five points in his last five games, and Draisaitl has three goals in the last five games.

At the end of the day, these are two teams that really need to get it going. Usually at the Thanksgiving mark is when we as a collective society see which teams are doing really well or doing really bad and right now these two teams are right in the middle.

Anticipate a lot of goals and a lot of big plays in this game with a lot of wide-open ice. Usually, if that's the case, that tends to favor the Oilers. so in a rare happenstance, I'm going to take Edmonton and likely an underdog victory. Oilers win 5-4

Panthers are 16-3 after losing 4 or 5 of their last six the last 3 seasons.

Oilers are 58-76 at home in November since 1996.

Panthers are 2-8 on the road in November the last 2 seasons.

Panthers:

Carter Verhaeghe -- Aleksander Barkov -- Matthew Tkachuk

Eetu Luostarinen -- Sam Bennett -- Colin White

Nick Cousins -- Anton Lundell -- Sam Reinhart

Ryan Lomberg -- Eric Staal -- Patric Hornqvist

Gustav Forsling -- Aaron Ekblad

Marc Staal -- Brandon Montour

Josh Mahura -- Radko Gudas

Spencer Knight

Oilers:

Warren Foegele -- Connor McDavid -- Zach Hyman

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins -- Leon Draisaitl -- Jesse Puljujarvi

Mattias Janmark -- Ryan McLeod -- Klim Kostin

Dylan Holloway -- Derek Ryan

Darnell Nurse -- Cody Ceci

Brett Kulak -- Evan Bouchard

Tyson Barrie -- Ryan Murray

Philip Broberg

Jack Campbell