Two clubs that many consider to be the strongest in the NHL, the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Nashville Predators meet at Bridgestone Arena for an East-West matchup. This one will get underway at 8 p.m. ET on Tuesday, January 23 and it is being shown live on TVA Sports.
Tampa Bay Lightning at Nashville Predators Odds
Tampa Bay is 32-15 straight up (SU) and has earned moneyline bettors 8.0 units this year. 27 of its games have gone over the total, while 19 have gone under and none have pushed. As the road team in 2017-18, the Bolts are 15-9 SU.
Tampa Bay has converted on 24.2 percent of its power play chances this season, a figure that’s good enough for fourth-best in the league. On the other hand, its penalty kill is ranked 19th out of 31 teams, and it has successfully killed off 80.1 percent of all penalties.
The Bolts, as a collective unit, have been sent to the penalty box 4.1 times per game overall in the 2017-18 season, and 4.8 per game over its last five road outings. The teams had to defend opponent power plays 8.6 minutes per game over their last five outings.
With a .930 save percentage and 28.7 saves per game, Andrei Vasilevskiy (28-12-2) has been the best option in goal for Tampa Bay this season. Vasilevskiy did just play last night, however, so Tampa Bay may decide to rest him and instead go with Louis Domingue (1-7 record, .870 save percentage, 4.02 goals against average).
The visiting Lightning have relied on Nikita Kucherov and Steven Stamkos this season. Kucherov has 61 points via 27 goals and 34 assists, and has recorded two or more points in 20 different games. Stamkos has 17 goals and 37 assists to his name, and has notched a point in 32 games.
On the other bench, Nashville is 28-17 straight up (SU) and has earned moneyline bettors 8.1 units this year. 23 of its games have gone under the total, while 22 have gone over and none have pushed. It’s 16-6 SU as the home team this year.
The Predators have converted on 23.3 percent of their power play chances this year, a figure that places it in the top-5 among NHL teams. On the other hand, its penalty kill is ranked 13th overall, and it’s successfully killed off 82.3 percent of all penalties.
Nashville skaters have been called for penalties 5.0 times per game in total this season, and 2.6 per game over their last five at home. The teams had to stave off opponent power plays just 7.2 minutes per game over their last 10 outings.
Pekka Rinne (29.3 saves per game) has been the top netminder in goal for the Predators. Rinne has 23 wins, 11 losses, and three overtime losses to his name and has maintained a 2.42 goals against average and a .925 save percentage this year.
The Preds offense will be led by P.K. Subban (10 goals, 24 assists) and Filip Forsberg (15 goals, 19 assists).
Tampa Bay Lightning at Nashville Predators Betting Predictions
Predictions: SU Winner – Lightning, O/U – Under
Betting Trends
- Penalties and power plays could be critical tonight. The Lightning are 18-8 when they serve fewer penalty minutes than their opponent and 17-8 in games where they serve fewer than 10 penalty minutes, in total. The Predators are 12-2 when they serve fewer penalty minutes than the opposition and 14-6 in games where their penalty minutes are in the single digits.
- Nashville is 4-4 in games decided by a shootout this season while Tampa Bay is 2-2 in shootouts.
- The total has gone under in three of Nashville’s last five games.
- Nashville is putting up 3.1 goals per game over its five-game winning streak.
- Nashville has averaged 8.4 giveaways over its last five home games, its season average of 9.0 giveaways per game (ranked 14th in the league).
- Tampa Bay skaters have averaged 8.3 giveaways per game (the ninth-fewest in the NHL).
