A couple of teams riding winning streaks, the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Carolina Hurricanes take the ice at PNC Arena. The puck drops at 7 p.m. ET on Thursday, March 21, and you’ll be able to watch this Eastern Conference matchup live on Fox Sports Sun.
Tampa Bay Lightning at Carolina Hurricanes Odds
This matchup’s moneyline and Over/Under odds have not been posted by oddsmakers yet.
Tampa Bay is 57-17 straight up (SU) and has earned 27.7 units for moneyline bettors this season. 37 of its matches have gone over the total, while 33 have gone under and just three have pushed. The Bolts are 26-9 SU on the road in 2018-19.
Tampa Bay currently has the first-strongest power-play unit in the NHL, as it’s converted on 29.4 percent of its extra-man chances this year. On the other hand, it has the second-best penalty kill in the league, and it’s successfully killed off 85.7 percent of all penalties.
For the team as a whole, Tampa Bay has been whistled for penalties 4.0 times per game overall this season, and 5.2 per game over its last five on the road. The team has had to defend opponent power plays 13.8 minutes per game over their last five road outings.
Boasting a .930 save percentage and 30.6 saves per game, Andrei Vasilevskiy (36-12-4) has been the best option in goal for Tampa Bay this season. Vasilevskiy played last night, however, so Tampa Bay could choose to rest him and instead go with Louis Domingue (20-5 record, .908 save percentage, 2.88 goals against average).
Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point will both be relied on to produce for the visiting Lightning. Kucherov (119 points) has tallied 37 goals and 82 assists, and has recorded two or more points 35 times. Point has 38 goals and 49 assists to his name (and has notched at least one point in 48 games).
On the other side of the rink, Carolina is 40-32 straight up (SU) and has lost 3.7 units for moneyline bettors this year. Through 72 regular season matches, 40 of its games have gone under the total, while 30 have gone over and just two have pushed. It’s 20-15 SU at home this season.
Carolina has converted on just 17.0 percent of its power play opportunities this year, a figure that places it in the bottom 10 overall among NHL teams. On the other hand, its penalty kill is ranked sixth overall, and it’s successfully killed off 82.2 percent of all opponent power plays.
Carolina players have been sent to the penalty box 3.5 times per game this season, and 2.9 per game over their last ten contests. The team has had to kill penalties just 8.2 minutes per game over their last 10 outings.
Petr Mrazek has stopped 24.9 shots per game as the primary selection in the crease for Carolina. Mrazek has 19 wins, 16 losses, and three overtime losses to his credit and has maintained a poor .909 save percentage and 2.50 goals against average this year.
The home team will be led on offense by Sebastian Aho (30 goals, 48 assists).
Tampa Bay Lightning at Carolina Hurricanes Betting Predictions
Pick: SU Winner – Hurricanes, O/U – Over
Betting Trends
- The under has hit in three of Carolina’s last five outings.
- The Lightning are 17-9 in games where they serve fewer penalty minutes than their opponent and 28-15 when they serve fewer than 10 total penalty minutes.
- Carolina is 2-2 in games decided by a shootout this season while Tampa Bay is 6-1 in shootouts.
- Carolina skaters have forced 14.8 takeaways per game over its last five home games, an improvement over its season average of 10.9 takeaways per game (ranked 1st).
- Tampa Bay has averaged 4.8 goals per game, while giving up just 2.7, over their six-game winning streak.
- Tampa Bay is ranked 21st in the NHL with 7.0 takeaways per game. That figure has trended upward, as it has averaged 8.5 takeaways over its last 10 games and 8.2 takeaways over its last five.
