The Vancouver Canucks will host the Florida Panthers looking to respond to a disappointing 4-3 overtime loss versus the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday. The Canucks have won just five of their last 10 games but will receive a notable boost Thursday as J.T. Miller is set to return after a 10-game absence.

The Florida Panthers are off to a strong start in their quest to defend their Stanley Cup Championship. With a record of 18-9-2 this season, they are at the top of the Atlantic division.

I’ll detail the relevant game notes, as well as outline my favourite betting angle below.

The Panthers lost some key pieces from last season’s Cup-winning roster, including Brandon Montour, Oliver-Ekman Larsson and Vladimir Tarasenko, this offseason, but it still felt as though head coach Paul Maurice’s side was among the least volatile teams in the league entering the year.

The most important pieces of the roster remained intact, and over the last two years, the Panthers have had loads of success, going to back-to-back Finals and posting a record of 112-65-16.

While it’s possible that we may see the Panthers look a little complacent at times during the 82-game grind of the regular season, that hasn’t been the case too often thus far. Over the last 10 games, the Panthers have played to an expected goal share of 55.94% and continue to suppress offensive chances at an elite rate, allowing just 24.27 SA/60 and 2.71 xGA/60.

Sam Reinhart leads the team with 19 goals in 29 games and has a legitimate chance to surpass his surprising 57-goal output last season. Meanwhile, Aleksander Barkov is favoured to win a second consecutive Frank J. Selke Trophy despite missing eight matchups due to injury.

Perhaps the only notable player on the roster to get off to a somewhat disappointing start is Sergei Bobrovsky, who holds a .896 save % and -2.3 GSAx rating in 19 appearances this season. It has not yet been confirmed whether Florida will start Bobrovsky or back up Spencer Knight in this matchup.

The Panthers have zero players on the injury report entering this matchup.

After a disappointing performance in Thatcher Demko’s return to the lineup on Tuesday, the Canucks will look to fare better in this matchup as Miller makes his return. The Blues held a 13-8 edge in high-danger chances in that matchup, but the Canucks showed some resilience in battling back to earn a point thanks to Jake DeBrusk’s late game-tying goal.

Absences have certainly played a role in their struggles, but it has been a pretty lengthy stretch of unconvincing play from the Canucks. Over the last 15 games, they are 7-6-2 and rank 31st with an expected goal share of 44.2% in that span. Vancouver is also just 3-5-2 in matchups versus teams that are currently occupying a playoff spot this season.

With each passing game, it continues to look more crucial for GM Patrik Allvin to acquire another quality blue-liner. Hughes has been incredible thus far this season, and with him on the ice, the Canucks are performing like one of the best teams in the league. The problem is the other two pairings have struggled mightily, and that issue doesn’t look to be resolved anytime soon with Filip Hronek still likely to miss at least six more weeks.

Kevin Lankinen has been confirmed as the Canucks starting goaltender in this matchup. He has played to a .908 save % and 2.65 GAA in 20 games played this season.

The Canucks recent play has been far from convincing, and they have not found much success in matchups versus playoff teams this season. The Panthers have looked more-or-less as expected, and seem to be a safe bet to enter the playoffs as a true Cup Contender once again.

Sharper bettors seem to be flocking to the Panthers in this matchup, as the Canucks money line has moved from +100 all the way to its current mark of +155. I posted the Panthers money line to my Action Network profile yesterday afternoon, but would now be closer to backing the Canucks at the current prices, especially as Miller is confirmed to be making his return.

Part of the reason the Panthers looked undervalued at opening numbers in the -125 range, is that the Canucks bottom two defensive pairings have been getting caved in consistently of late. That note ties in with the bet that I would like ahead of this matchup, which is backing Hughes to win the Norris Trophy for a second consecutive season at +200.

With all due respect to Zach Werenski, it looks to be a two-horse race for the Norris Trophy between Hughes and Cale Makar. Makar has been fantastic with 36 points in 30 games, but he is being aided by spending plenty of time with Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen. He is also paired with another of the league’s best defenders, Devon Toews.

With 32 points in 27 games, Hughes isn’t that far behind from a production standpoint, and his 32 points are six more than anybody else on the team has managed. His overall impact has been superior to Makar’s, and it seems that most informed observers are just beginning to take notice of that.

With it really only being a race between two skaters and Hughes arguably having had the better start to the season, +200 is a great price to back the Canucks Captain in this market.