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Posted at 2:15 PM EST.

7:35 PM EST. Regulation only. If you’re playing the Panthers with James Reimer in net, you are going to want a bigger price than the one being offered here. Roberto Luongo was injured last game against the Islanders early in the second period with the game tied 1-1 and Reimer would subsequently allow three goals against over the next 17 minutes. The Panthers would eventually lose in extra time, 5-4 but had Luongo not been injured, we’re rather confident that the Panthers would have won that game. Reimer is now the #1 man in Florida for the time being with his .892 save percentage (ranked 57 out of 63) while ranking 56th out of 63 qualified goaltenders in the advanced metrics department.  At the time of his injury, Luongo ranked 7th out of 63 in the advanced metrics, thus, there is a massive drop-off from Luongo to Reimer.

Florida is ranked in the lower tier in almost every key metric both offensively and defensively. While there are things we like about the Panthers, they’re not good enough (like the Islanders for instance), to compensate for weak goaltending. Buffalo, Ottawa, Philadelphia, Carolina, Montreal (without Price), Edmonton and Arizona are all teams that have suffered through inconsistent or weak goaltending this year and what they all have in common is wins have been tooth and nails to come by. It’s no coincidence. In this league, goaltending decides games and in that respect, Connor Hellebucyk against James Reimer is a mismatch. We also love that the Jets are coming off a bad loss to the then ice-cold Red Wings, which hopefully served as a reminder that you cannot take a day off against anyone in this league. We’ll trust that some of Winnipeg’s many sharpshooters will bury some pucks behind one of the NHL’s worst goaltenders and that the Jets respond to perhaps their worst loss of the season.

UPDATE at 5:00 PM. Hellebucyk will backup Eric Comrie of the Jets but that's not going to deter us from backing the Jets. The price on Winnpeg has been reduced to -108 at Pinnacle. Comrie is a highly touted goaltender that will make his second career start here. 

Open an account today at Pinnacle Sports and take advantage of their -104 style pricing on sides and totals, which is 60% better than other sportsbooks