A pair of teams that are squarely in the playoff picture, the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Boston Bruins collide at TD Garden. NBC Sports Network will air this divisional matchup, which gets underway at 7:30 p.m. ET on Thursday, February 28.
Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Boston Bruins Odds
This matchup’s moneyline and Over/Under odds have not been posted by bookmakers yet.
Tampa Bay is 49-15 straight up (SU) and has earned moneyline bettors 23.3 units this year. Through 64 regular season outings, 32 of its games have gone over the total, while 28 have gone under and just three have pushed. The Bolts are 23-8 SU as an away team in 2018-19.
Tampa Bay currently has the first-best power-play unit in the NHL, as it’s scored on 29.9 percent of its extra-man opportunities this year. On the other hand, its penalty kill is ranked first overall, and the team’s successfully killed off a whopping 86.1 percent of its penalties.
For the team as a whole, Tampa Bay has been penalized 4.0 times per game overall in the 2018-19 season, and 4.8 per game over its last five road outings. The team has been forced to stave off opponent power plays 10.6 minutes per contest over their last five road games.
Averaging 30.4 saves per game with a .930 save percentage, Andrei Vasilevskiy (29-11-4) has been the top option in goal for Tampa Bay this year. Vasilevskiy played last night, however, so head coach Jon Cooper might opt to rest him and instead turn to Louis Domingue (19-4 record, .908 save percentage, 2.86 goals against average).
Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point will both lead the way for the visiting Lightning. Kucherov (104 points) is up to 30 goals and 74 assists, and has recorded two or more points 29 times. Point has 36 goals and 44 assists to his name (and has logged at least one point in 42 games).
On the other side of the rink, Boston is 37-26 straight up (SU) and has lost 0.8 units for moneyline bettors this year. 36 of its matches have gone under the total, while 24 have gone over and just three have pushed. It’s 22-10 SU at home this season.
Boston currently has the third-strongest power-play unit in the NHL, as it has converted on 26.4 percent of its extra-man opportunities this season. On the other hand, its penalty kill is ranked 13th overall, and it’s successfully killed off 80.7 percent of all opponent power plays.
Boston skaters have been whistled for penalties 4.0 times per game this season, and 5.2 per game over their last five at home. The team’s been forced to kill penalties 12.2 minutes per contest over their last five home games.
Tuukka Rask (26.3 saves per game) has been the top option in the crease for Boston. Rask has 20 wins, 14 losses, and five overtime losses to his credit and has recorded a 2.40 goals against average and a .920 save percentage this year.
Brad Marchand (25 goals, 49 assists) will lead the offensive attack for Beantown.
Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Boston Bruins Betting Predictions
Free NHL Tip: SU Winner – Lightning, O/U – Over
Betting Trends
- For both of these teams, the under has hit in three of their past five matchups.
- Tampa Bay has managed 25.8 shot attempts per game over its last five road games while Boston is averaging 32.8 shots per game over its last five at home.
- Extra-man opportunities may prove to be extremely important in the outcome of this one. The Lightning are 16-9 in games where they serve fewer penalty minutes than their opponent and 24-14 when they serve fewer than 10 penalty minutes, in total. The Bruins are 19-14 when they serve fewer penalty minutes than the opposition and 24-18 in games where they’re in the box for less than 10 minutes.
- Three of Boston’s past 10 outings have ended in a shootout. The team’s 1-2 in those games and 2-3 overall in shootouts this season.
- Boston has averaged 11.2 takeaways per game over its last five home games, an improvement over its season average of 9.1 takeaways per game (ranked 5th overall).
- Tampa Bay has scored 4.5 goals per game (while giving up just 1.9) over the team’s 10-game winning streak.
- Tampa Bay is ranked 22nd overall with 6.8 takeaways per game. That figure has trended higher recently, as it’s forced 7.7 takeaways over its last 10 games and 7.8 takeaways over its last five.
