The Boston Bruins at Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena in Game 1 of the NHL’s Eastern Conference Semifinals. The match gets going at 3 p.m. ET on Saturday, April 28, and it will be showcased live on NBC.
Boston Bruins vs. Tampa Bay Lightning Odds
Boston (+125) is playing the role of underdog to Tampa Bay (-145), and the Over/Under (O/U) has been set at 6 goals (-110 for the over, -110 for the under).
The Lightning are 58-29 straight up (SU) and have earned moneyline bettors 10.6 units this year. That winning percentage, ranked first in the NHL in this young season, is an improvement over the 42-40 record from the 2016-17 season campaign. Through 87 regular season contests, 52 of the team’s games have gone over the total, while 33 have gone under and just two have pushed. The team is 32-12 SU at home this season.
Tampa Bay’s offensive attack attempted 32.7 shots per game in the regular season, resulting in 3.6 goals per outing (ranked first overall in the NHL). In the playoffs, the club is maintaining an average of 33.6 shots on goal 3.6 goals per game.
After producing the third-strongest power-play unit in the regular season (scoring on 24.1 percent of all chances), the Lightning have been able to score on 26.3 percent of their postseason power play opportunities. Their penalty kill has gone from 76.6 percent in the regular season to 84.2 percent in the playoffs.
With a .921 save percentage and 29.5 saves per game, Andrei Vasilevskiy (48-22-3) has been the best goalkeeper for the Lightning this year. If they decide to give him the day off, however, head coach Jon Cooper could roll with Louis Domingue (7-12-12 record, .894 save percentage, 3.41 goals against average).
The Bolts will continue to look for leadership from Nikita Kucherov and Steven Stamkos. Kucherov (110 points) has tallied 44 goals and 66 assists and has recorded two or more points on 34 different occasions this year. Stamkos has 28 goals and 64 assists to his name and has notched at least one point in 56 games.
Over on the other bench, Boston is 54-35 straight up (SU) and has earned moneyline bettors 3.8 units this year. A total of 44 of its matches have gone under the total, while 40 have gone over and just five have pushed. As an away team, Boston is 23-21 SU.
Boston has converted on 24.3 percent of its power play opportunities this season, a figure that’s good enough for fourth-best in the league. On the other hand, its penalty kill unit is ranked third overall and it’s successfully killed off 83.1 percent of all opponent power plays.
Boston’s players have been penalized 3.7 times per game in total this season, and 2.6 per game over their last five match ups. The team’s had to kill penalties just 6.0 minutes per game over their last 10 outings.
Tuukka Rask (2.43 goals against average and .915 save percentage) has been the primary option in goal for Boston. Rask is averaging 25.5 saves per game and owns a 38-23-5 record.
For the visiting Bruins, the offense will be coordinated by Brad Marchand (37 goals, 57 assists) and David Pastrnak (40 goals, 53 assists).
Boston Bruins vs. Tampa Bay Lightning Free Picks
NHL Tip: SU Winner – Lightning, O/U – Under
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Notes
Betting Notes
The over has hit in three of Tampa Bay’s last five games.
Power plays and penalty kills may prove to be even more critical than usual in this one. The Bruins are 16-20 in games where they serve fewer penalty minutes than their opponent and 31-24 when they serve fewer than 10 total penalty minutes. The Lightning are 27-15 when the team serves fewer penalty minutes than the opposition and 32-18 in games where they’re in the box for less than 10 minutes.
Tampa Bay is ranked 19th in the league with 7.1 takeaways per game. That figure has trended upward recently, as the team has managed 7.9 takeaways over its last 10 games and 7.8 takeaways over its last five.
Boston is ranked seventh in the league with 8.1 takeaways per game. That figure has trended lower, however, as it has averaged 6.8 takeaways over its last 10 games and 4.4 takeaways over its last five.
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