The Leading Logic In Sports Handicapping |
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msudogs
Moderator
Registered: Nov 2005
Posts: 65535
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Florida at Tampa (-115, 6)
The Florida Panthers are a wagon. There’s no denying that at this point, but Amalie Arena can be a very difficult building to play in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. In my opinion, you can never count the Lightning out. They have shown time and time again that they can flip a switch in desperate times.
One area that Tampa needs to focus on is their start to the game. Florida has had a much better jump in the first two games, so I imagine Jon Cooper will have his team fired up from the opening puck drop. Even if they weren’t at their best, the Lightning still had a good chance to take Game 2. Tonight, they will have to get more traffic in front of Sergei Bobrovsky.
Bobrovsky has been excellent for the Panthers, but Vasilevskiy has also had some strong showings. In Game 2, Vasilevskiy made 34 saves on 37 shots and skated to a .919 save percentage. The goaltending has not been an issue.
One player to look for is Nikita Kucherov, who has been unable to find the back of the net in the first two games. Kucherov has notched two assists, but after scoring 44 goals in the regular season, they will need him to get going if they want to get back in the series. Kucherov is a killer, and I do not doubt that he will have a big impact on this game tonight.
Kucherov, Steven Stamkos, Brayden Point, and Victor Hedman have all shown up for Tampa.
The Panthers will be missing Sam Bennett, who was injured in the last game. That will be a bigger loss than some people may anticipate.
We’re going to see a desperate effort from the Bolts. I think they get themselves back in the series tonight.
NHL Best Bet: Tampa Bay Lightning ML -115 (play to -125)
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04-25-24 10:16 PM |
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