I am 2-2 in my NHL free betting tips. Tonight I like the St. Louis-Tampa Bay match-up.
St. Louis Blues (35-15-4, 74 pts) @ Tampa Bay Lightning (34-16-6, 74 pts)
Overview: The St. Louis Blues have dropped 2 of their last 3 games. On Tuesday they notched a 2-1 home win versus Arizona. Right-winger Dmitrij Jaskin and left-winger Alexander Steen each had 1 goal each. Center David Backes, defenseman Carl Gunnarsson, and right-winger T.J. Oshie all had 1 assist apiece. Goalie Jake Allen had 25 saves. The Blues had 36 shots on goal in the game. They are 14-10-2 on the road this season. They are 15-4-2 versus Eastern Conference opponents. Tonight is the first game of a brief 2 game road trip. Their next game is Sunday at Florida. They are 3rd in the league in goals per game with 3.0 per game. They are 6th in the league in goals against with 2.4 per game. They are 2nd in the league in power play % and 18th in the league in penalty kill %. Right-winger Vladimir Tarasenko leads the team in points with 53 and leads the team in goals with 28. Defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk leads the team in assists with 32. St. Louis is in 2nd place in the Central division, 4 points behind the division leaders Nashville. The Tampa Bay Lightning have lost 3 of their last 5 games. On Tuesday they were defeated in overtime 3-2 at Nashville. Right-winger Brett Connolly and right-winger Nikita Kucherov each had 1 goal each. Center Valtteri Filppula, center Tyler Johnson, and left-winger Ondrej Palat all had 1 assist apiece. Goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy had 26 saves. The Lightning had 32 shots on goal in the game. They are 22-5-1 at home this season. They are 11-4-3 versus Western Conference opponents. After tonight they go on the road for a 5 game road trip. Their next game is Sunday at San Jose. They are 1st in the league in goals per game with 3.2 per game. They are 12th in the league in goals against with 2.6 per game. They are 22nd in the league in power play % and 10th in the league in penalty kill %. Center Tyler Johnson leads the team in points with 53 and in assists with 34. Center Steven Stamkos leads the team in goals with 28. Tampa Bay is the Atlantic division leaders, 4 points ahead of trailing Montreal.
In their first meeting this season St. Louis secured a 2-1 overtime home win versus Tampa Bay. Lightning center Cedric Paquette had the lone goal for the team while Blues left-winger Jaden Schwartz and right-winger Vladimir Tarasenko each had one goal. Tampa had 31 shots on goal compared to St. Louis’ 18 shots on goal. Tonight is the last meeting of the season between the Blues and Lightning.
Prediction: This should be an excellent match-up between the East’s best and the West’s 3rd best (in terms of points). The Lightning are a very strong team at home and I believe they’ll take care of business, it wouldn’t surprise me if this game went all the way to a shoot-out. Play: Lightning -115 (Bet365)
Tagged With : NHL betting