Two squads that’ve positioned themselves squarely in the playoff picture, the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Columbus Blue Jackets face off at Nationwide Arena. This Eastern Conference matchup will get started at 7:30 p.m. ET on Monday, February 18 and it will be broadcasted live on NBC Sports Network.
Tampa Bay Lightning at Columbus Blue Jackets Odds
Columbus (+110) is playing the role of underdog to Tampa Bay (-130) and oddsmakers have put the Over/Under (O/U) at 7 goals. The odds for betting the total sit at -135 money on the over and +115 on the under.
Tampa Bay is 44-15 straight up (SU) and has netted 19.3 units for moneyline bettors this season. 30 of its outings have gone over the total, while 26 have gone under and just three have pushed. As the away team in 2018-19, the Bolts are 20-8 SU.
Tampa Bay comes into the match up with the second-strongest power-play unit in the NHL, as it’s found the net on 29.9 percent of its extra-man chances this season. Additionally, it has the second-strongest penalty kill in the league, and it’s successfully killed off a whopping 84.6 percent of its penalties.
For the team as a whole, Tampa Bay has been penalized 3.9 times per game this season, and 5.2 per game over its last five on the road. The team’s been forced to stave off opponent power plays 11.0 minutes per game over their last five road outings.
With a .928 save percentage and 30.1 saves per game, Andrei Vasilevskiy (25-11-4) has been the primary option in goal for Tampa Bay this year. If head coach Jon Cooper decides to rest him, however, Tampa Bay could turn to Louis Domingue (18-4 record, .907 save percentage, 2.90 goals against average).
The visiting Lightning have relied heavily on Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point this season. Kucherov has 94 points on 27 goals and 67 assists, and has recorded multiple points 27 times. Point has 33 goals and 42 assists to his name (and has logged at least one point in 39 games).
On the other side of the rink, Columbus is 33-24 straight up (SU) and has earned 1.6 units for moneyline bettors this year. 28 of its matches have gone under the total, while 23 have gone over and just six have pushed. It’s 15-14 SU as the home team this season.
Columbus has converted on just 16.0 percent of its power play chances this year, a figure that’s ranked 27th in the NHL. On the other hand, its penalty kill is ranked fifth overall, and it’s successfully killed off 83.9 percent of all opponent power plays.
The Blue Jackets have been penalized only 3.0 times per game this season, and 2.2 per game over their last five at home. The team’s been forced to kill penalties just 5.2 minutes per game over their last 10 outings.
Sergei Bobrovsky (25.9 saves per game) has been the primary netminder in goal for Columbus. Bobrovsky has 24 wins, 18 losses, and one OT loss to his credit and has registered a poor .904 save percentage and 2.88 goals against average this year.
Artemi Panarin (24 goals, 43 assists) will lead the offensive attack for the Blue Jackets.
Tampa Bay Lightning at Columbus Blue Jackets Free Picks
Pick: SU Winner – Blue Jackets, O/U – Over
Betting Notes
- The total has gone over in three of Tampa Bay’s last five outings.
- The extra-man advantage may be extremely important in this matchup. The Lightning are 15-9 in games where they serve fewer penalty minutes than their opponent and 22-14 when they serve fewer than 10 total penalty minutes. The Blue Jackets are 18-8 when the team serves fewer penalty minutes than the opposition and 27-20 in games where they’re in the box for less than 10 minutes.
- Tampa Bay (4-1 in shootouts this season) has more experience in games decided by shootout. Columbus fell short in its one shootout this season.
- Columbus is ranked 16th overall this season with 7.5 takeaways per game. That figure’s trended upward, as it has created 8.7 takeaways over its last 10 games and 9.4 takeaways over its last five.
- Tampa Bay has scored 3.9 goals per game overall this year, but has upped that figure to 5.0 per match up in their last five games (the team’s a perfect 5-0 SU over that streak)
- Tampa Bay has forced 5.6 takeaways per game over its last five road games, a drop-off from its season average of 6.7 takeaways per game (ranked 23rd overall).
