Unless the 1942 Leafs, 1975 Islanders, 2010 Flyers, or 2014 Kings show up, this 0-3 deficit looks to be curtains for the Canes. This almost seems psychological now, as their conference finals losing streak is at 15, and having been outscored 16-4 across the first four of this series. Carolina's offense is being bogged down along the boards as well as at center ice by the Florida defense, and when the canes do create shots, Sergei Bobrovsky sees all of them. Freddy Andersen hasn't been up to the "Bob" level in goal during this series, and the Panthers' depth is affording Paul Maurice all sorts of luxuries as he gets scoring contributions from up and down his roster. Play Panthers on Puck Line

Florida looks capable of taking care of overs by itself in this series. The Panthers have scored at least five in each game, which makes five of the last six to the end of the preceding Toronto series they have landed on five or more. With scoring contributions from all of the lines, plus defenders, there is never a shift when Florida isn't executing a high-danger chances at the Carolina goal. Moreover, potential close-out games have the tendency to go over as the losing teams often pull out all of the stops when behind late, willing to risk an empty net for several minutes, and continue to risk even if surrendering goals, if behind. The Canes might be in this situation tonight. Play Canes-Panthers Over

Those who follow my picks regularly know I'm a patient bettor. I wait for spots and strike. Sometimes that works out, sometimes I kick myself. The Panthers in Game 3 is an example of the latter. I was so close to playing Florida, I actually started a writeup, then pulled back. Here was the first line, "This looks like a sweep." Well, that hasn't changed with the Panthers up 3-0. This is just a bad matchup for Carolina. The Panthers swept them in the 2023 EC Final and are now 14-5 in the last 19 meetings. I'll lay -162 early before the number moves. I think the line closes around -180.