Blue Jackets vs. Lightning Game 2 Prediction: NHL Playoffs Betting Odds
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David Bastl
It was the biggest surprise of opening night in the Stanley Cup playoffs, as the Blue Jackets scored a 4-3 come from behind victory over the Lightning in game one. Many were predicting a series sweep, but it’s now up to the Bolts to tie this series up before they head to Columbus.
Blue Jackets vs Lightning Stanley Cup Playoffs Betting Analysis
Columbus proved Wednesday why they are a better road team than home team. During the regular season they were 25-14-2, and they improved their mark in Tampa as they are now 4-10 in the last 14 games there.
The Lightning swept the three game regular season series for the Blue Jackets in convincing fashion, outscoring them 17-3 in the trio of games. The Bolts also enter this game on a six-game winning streak against the Jackets.
At Sports Interaction, the Lightning are still -238 favourites to win the series, while the Blue Jackets are coming in at +167.
Columbus Blue Jackets
It was a tale of two different games for the Blue Jackets and Lightning for that matter. Columbus started off slow, Tampa ended slow, and the result was surprising visiting win.
The Lightning built up a three-goal lead and seemed unstoppable, but the Blue Jackets chipped away at it, reduced the lead to just one goal, then got a massive short-handed goal by Josh Anderson (two-point night), and added a Seth Jones power-play goal to win. Speaking of Jones, he played a whopping 25:33 minutes of ice time, only Zach Werenski played more than him in the game with 26 minutes of ice time.
Matt Duchene and Pierre-Luc Dubois combined to go minus-3 in game one, and did not register a point.
Tampa Bay Lightning
The Lightning did something on Wednesday night that they haven’t done much this post season – blow a third period lead. During the regular season, these Bolts were 39-2-2 when they took a lead into the third period, but this time with the score 3-1, watched a visiting team score three straight to register the win.
But, good news if you’re a Lightning win is the odds of this happening again are slim. In fact, the odds of the team losing game two might be even slimmer. During the 82-game regular season, Tampa lost only 16 games and only lost back to back games twice this season.
Of note, it’s hard to believe but Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov failed to find the scoresheet in game one; that will change as early as Friday night. With 62 victories, the best power play in the league (28 percent) and a goal-differential of plus-103; there sure seemed to be a lot of players just standing around in game one.
CLB
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