Blue Jackets vs. Lightning Pick
Which team has the edge when the surging Columbus Blue Jackets and Tampa Bay Lightning meet up tonight at 7PM ET?
According to oddsmakers at Bovada.lv, the Lightning are favored at home, as they are getting odds of -140 to win, while the Blue Jackets are listed with a money line of +120 to prevail. The over/under total for the contest has been set at 6 goals. Tonight’s game takes place from the Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida.
The Blue Jackets have won two straight and four of their last five after earning a 7-3 win at Florida on Thursday night. Columbus is 9-4 on the season and 4-2 on the road. The Blue Jackets are putting up 3.31 goals per game while allowing 2.54 per contest. Artemi Panarin has one goal and 10 assists to lead the Jackets this season while Josh Anderson and Sonny Milano each had five goals. Sergei Bobrovsky is 8-2 in net for Columbus. He has a 2.07 GAA and a .932 save percentage this season.
Tampa Bay is coming off a 2-1 OT loss at home to the Rangers for their second loss in three games. The Lightning are 10-2-2 on the season and 6-1-1 at home. Tampa is averaging 3.86 goals per game this season while allowing 2.64 per game. Nikita Kucherov has 13 goals in 14 games this season to lead Tampa. He also has eight assists. Steve Stamkos is the points leader with six goals and 18 assists. Andrei Vasilevskiy is 10-1-1 in net this season with a 2.42 GAA and a .928 save percentage.
Bet on Blue Jackets vs. Lightning
Columbus has won three of the last four meetings with Tampa, but the Lightning are playing too well this season to pass up at home. Tampa has tremendous scoring ability and they are 8-2 in their last 10 at home and 9-1 in their last 10 on 1 day of rest. Columbus has been playing well as of late, but the Blue Jackets are just 4-13 in their last 17 against winning teams and 3-10 in their last 13 on 1 day of rest. The public betting is with the Lightning and I agree with them today.
NHL DAILY PREDICTION: TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING -140