Blue Jackets vs. Lightning Game 1 Prediction, Stanley Cup Playoff Odds
The Lightning are game and series favourites on the NHL odds.
Blue Jackets vs. Lightning Playoff Odds
Columbus is the No. 7 seed in the East as part of the playoff reseeding and the Lightning are No. 2. The teams met in the conference quarterfinals last year as well and the eighth-seeded Blue Jackets pulled off a shocking sweep of the top-seeded Lightning, who had tied a league record with 62 regular-season victories. That was easily the biggest playoff upset in NHL history as no Presidents’ Trophy winner had ever been swept in the first round.
The teams got in just one meeting this season before it was shut down, with Tampa Bay winning 2-1 in overtime in Ohio on Feb. 10. Nikita Kucherov had both Lightning goals, and backup Curtis McElhinney, the former Maple Leaf, was in net. Oliver Bjorkstrand had the Columbus goal and backup Elvis Merzlikins was in net. The over-under is 4-6 in the past 10 meetings including playoffs.
Tampa Bay is +350 to win the East and +800 for the Cup, while Columbus is +1500 and +3200, respectively.
Columbus Blue Jackets
Columbus entered the qualifying round of these playoffs as the No. 9 seed and upset the No. 8 Maple Leafs in five games. Joonas Korpisalo turned aside all 33 shots he faced in Sunday’s 3-0 win to clinch the series. He had struggled in Game 3, being pulled, and didn’t play Game 4. Korpisalo became only the fifth goalie in league history to record a series-clinching shutout after not appearing in the previous game. The Finn also blanked the high-powered Leafs in Game 1. He is the eighth different goaltender in NHL history to record multiple shutouts in a best-of-5 series.
Zach Werenski (who left Game 4 injured), Liam Foudy and Nick Foligno had the Game 5 goals. Right wing Cam Atkinson led the Blue Jackets with five points (2G, 3A) in the series, while Pierre-Luc Dubois (3G, 1A) had four.
Tampa Bay Lightning
The Lightning played the Flyers for the East’s top seed on Saturday, but Tampa Bay was upset 4-1 to finish at No. 2 – which is the seed the Bolts entered the round-robin tournament as. Defenceman and Norris Trophy finalist Victor Hedman left that loss with an injury, and his status for this game is up in the air. Hedman scored 55 points (11 goals, 44 assists) in 66 regular-season games.
Star forward and Markham native Steven Stamkos missed all three round-robin games with a lower-body injury and is in question for Tuesday. Stamkos was second on the Lightning with 29 goals and 66 points in 57 games this season. Alex Killorn (1G, 2A), Tyler Johnson (2G, 1A) and Brayden Point (1G, 2A) led Tampa Bay with three points each in the round-robin games. Andrei Vasilevskiy was 2-1 with a 2.29 GAA and .921 SV.
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