Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Chicago Blackhawks Prediction, NHL Odds
The win kept Tampa Bay undefeated in three games this season against Chicago. The first place Lightning comes in as the (-197) favourite tonight.
Lightning vs. Blackhawks 3/5/21 Betting Analysis
The Hawks have been playing some excellent hockey lately, winning nine of their 15 games in February. They will play in back-to-back games for the second time this week after they beat the Detroit Red Wings in two games at home.
The over/under is set 6 tonight and bettors are completely split on this one. In their three meetings in 2021, they are 2-1 to the under but were only half goal shy of the total in both. Both teams will likely go to their backup goalies, Curtis McElhinney and Malcolm Subban. Subban gave up five in his last outing against Detroit, while McElhinney has only played in three games.
Tampa Bay Lightning
Andrei Vasilevskiy did not give up a goal in seven straight periods but saw his shutout streak end 7:24 into the second period. He went on to stop 35 of 37 shots, shutting out the Hawks in the third and in overtime. His play kept the Bolts in the game while the rest of the team had a slower start. Alex Killorn tipped in a Victor Hedman point shot to secure the comeback in the last second. Hedman has been a force this season as usual with six points (1 goal, 5 assists) in his past six games to keep up his point-per-game pace.
Chicago Blackhawks
The Hawks managed to get their first point of the season against Tampa, after playing an almost perfect game on Thursday night. Alex Debrincat had a goal in the second period to extend his point streak to seven games, and he almost had the game-winner when his snapshot rang off the Lightning post in overtime. The Bolts caught them sleeping with two goals early in the third period to tie the game, but they did not give up another until the very last second of overtime. If the Blackhawks do not run out of gas tonight they could pull themselves to within two points of first in the Central.
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