The Florida Panthers will travel to Kanata, Ontario, to face the Ottawa Senators at the Canadian Tire Centre. The puck is scheduled to drop at 7:00 PM ET on Thursday evening and will air on Bally Sports Florida.

After making the playoffs last season and advancing to the Stanley Cup Finals, the Florida Panthers have secured a playoff spot in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs as they enter this game with a record of 47-24-5 and 99 points and trail the Boston Bruins by three points for 1^st place in the Atlantic Division with six games left to play in the regular season and have one of the easier scheduled to finish the season with their two best-remaining opponents being the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs. 

The Panthers have struggled over their previous ten games, going 2-7-1 during that stretch, and are on a two-game losing streak following a 3-5 loss on the road against the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday. This will be the 3^rd meeting during the regular season this year between the two teams, with Florida having won the previous two contests, including the most recent matchup on the road by a score of 5-0, and has won three straight games in the series. 

The Florida Panthers will travel to Ottawa for Game 3 of the regular season series, looking to improve their record to 3-0 against the Senators.

The Ottawa Senators are likely to miss the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the sixth consecutive season. They trail the Washington Capitals by 12 points with only eight games left to play during the regular season. Ottawa saw their five-game winning streak end on Monday with a 2-3 loss on the road against the Minnesota Wild. 

The defensive play and inconsistency with their goalies for the Senators have played a vital role in Ottawa's dismal season. They are allowing the 5^th most goals per game in the league, with an average of 3.47 goals allowed per game. The Senators have struggled over the last ten games in the series against the Panthers, having only won two of the previous ten meetings and are 0-2 against Florida this season while having lost by an average margin of 3 goals per game in the meetings this season. 

When they host Ottawa on Thursday evening, the Ottawa Senators will look to get their first win of the regular season series against the Panthers.

BetOnline has the Florida Panthers listed as -155 moneyline favorites on the road against the Ottawa Senators on Thursday evening. Florida has dominated the series over the last ten meetings, winning eight of the ten and winning by an average margin of 1.5 goals per game. The Panthers have also won both meetings this season and by an average margin of 3 goals per game in those contests.

Florida enters this game with a better record. It has been the dominant team in the series, winning eight of the previous ten by an average margin of 1.5 goals per game and winning by games this season by an average margin of 3 goals per game. I look for those trends to continue in this meeting, so I am taking the moneyline for the Florida Panthers when they travel to face the Ottawa Senators on Thursday evening.