The Tampa Bay Lightning and the Florida Panthers meet Saturday in NHL action from Amerant Bank Arena. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best bets for this game. Here’s a Panthers vs Lightning Prediction.
Series Recap
The Florida Panthers come into this game after taking a 2-0 series lead going back home thanks to their 2-0 win over the Lightning in game two on Thursday. Nate Schmidt opened the scoring for the Panthers 4:15 into the game, and despite Tampa Bay outshooting the Panthers 9-6 in the 2nd period, the Bolts wouldn’t be able to break down Sergei Bobrovsky. Sam Bennett iced the win with an empty-netter with four seconds to go to secure the win and commanding lead heading back home.
Lightning Looking To Get On The Board In Series
Nikita Kucherov leads the Bolts with 121 points including a team-high 37 goals and 84 assists while Brandon Hagel has 90 points with 35 goals and 55 assists and Anthony Cirelli has 59 points of his own with 27 goals and 32 assists. Brayden Point has 82 points with 42 goals and 40 assists while Victor Hedman has 66 points with 51 assists. Jake Guentzel also has 80 points with 41 goals and 39 assists. Andrei Vasilevskiy has gone 38-20-5 with a 2.18 GAA and a .921 save percentage while Jonas Johansson has gone 9-6-3 with a 3.13 GAA and an .895 save percentage on the year in goal for Tampa Bay.
Why the Tampa Bay Lightning will win
- The Lightning have won three of their last four games as underdogs following a home loss.
- The Panthers have lost four of their last six games as favorites following a road win.
- The Lightning have covered the puck line in each of their last six games at Amerant Bank Arena against opponents on a winning streak.
- The Panthers have failed to cover the puck line in nine of their last 10 day games against opponents on a losing streak.
Tampa Bay Lightning Player Prop Facts
- Jake Guentzel has scored at least one goal in each of his last four playoff appearances with his team as a road underdog.
- Jake Guentzel has recorded at least one point in each of his last seven playoff appearances with his team as an underdog.
- Nikita Kucherov has recorded at least one assist in each of the Lightning’s last nine day playoff games.
- Nikita Kucherov ranks 1st in the league for Points (121) this season.
Panthers Looking For Commanding 3-0 Lead, Pushing For Sweep Of Rival Lightning
Sam Reinhart has a team-high 81 points including 39 goals and 42 assists while Sam Bennett has 51 points with 25 goals and 26 assists and Anton Lundell has 45 points of his own with 17 goals and 28 assists. Aleksander Barkov also has 71 points with 51 assists of his own while Carter Verhaeghe has 53 points with 20 goals and 33 assists and Matthew Tkachuk has 57 points with 22 goals and 35 assists. Sergei Bobrovsky is 33-19-2 with a 2.44 GAA and a .906 save percentage in goal for Florida this season. Vitek Vanecek is also 2-4-1 with a 3.00 GAA and an .890 save percentage in goal for the Panthers this year.
Why the Florida Panthers will win
- The Lightning have lost each of their last eight games as road underdogs.
- The Panthers have won six of their last seven home games against Atlantic Division opponents.
- The Lightning have failed to cover the puck line in each of their last four games as underdogs.
Florida Panthers Player Prop Facts
- Matthew Tkachuk has scored at least one goal in each of his last seven appearances with the Panthers as favorites.
- Aaron Ekblad has recorded at least one assist in each of his last six appearances after playing less than 20 minutes in the Panthers’ last game.
- Aleksander Barkov has recorded at least one point in each of his last 10 home appearances against Eastern Conference opponents.
- Aleksander Barkov ranks T1st in the league for shootout goals (4) this season.
Total Goals Facts
- Each of the Lightning’s last five games at Amerant Bank Arena against opponents on a winning streak have gone UNDER the total goals line.
- Each of the Panthers’ last four games at Amerant Bank Arena following a road win have gone OVER the total goals line.
- Ten of the last 13 day games between two teams from the Atlantic Division have gone OVER the total goals line.
Panthers vs Lightning Prediction
I’m on the under here. Andrei Vasilevskiy got himself right after a rough outing in game one, but the Lightning offense once again had trouble figuring out Sergei Bobrovsky, and I don’t know if it’s going to get any easier here. The thing is, though, I think we see a more physical Lightning team to avoid getting bullied on the road. I think we could see an eerily similar style of play to what we saw in game two, where a 2-1 game could be on the cards. I think this is going to be a black and blue style of game in game three, and I look for the under to come through here.