Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Montreal Canadiens Prediction, NHL Odds
Brandon Hagel scored his second career hat trick for the Lightning on Saturday, helping his team rally back in the third period to take down the Canadiens.
Riding a two-game losing streak, Montreal has only one win in their past 10 contest and has slid to last place in the Atlantic Division. They will be looking to avoid a season sweep to the Lightning for the first time since the 2019-2020 season.
The Lightning are listed as the heavy -273 favourite to win on the NHL odds with the total sitting at 6.5.
Lightning vs. Canadiens NHL Betting Odds
Tampa Bay will be looking to sweep the series on Tuesday in their fourth and final game of the season against the Canadiens. The Lightning have scored at least four goals in each game so far and has won every time by no less than two. Montreal got on the board only once in each of their first two matchups but put in three in their most recent meeting, helping them hit the Over for the first time.
Tampa has scored at least two goals in each of their past eight games, helping them to a 35-27-9 record on the Over/Under through 71 games. They are the third-highest-scoring team in the league, averaging 3.5 goals per game, helped along by a 25.3 percent powerplay. They lost their most recent contest, snapping a three-game win streak in which they covered the spread every time. The Bolts have had trouble covering the spread this season, doing it just 32 times in 71 games.
The Canadiens have been in some very high-scoring games lately, playing four straight games to the Over. They have suffered an average of 4.7 goals per game over their past 10 games and have allowed no less than three in each of those games. Their record on the Over/Under is 33-33-4 so far and their offence has improved their scoring recently, clicking at 4.5 goals per game in their past four. Despite winning only once in their past 10 games, they have covered the spread five times to keep their record against the spread in the positives, at 38-32 ATS.
Tampa Bay Lightning
The Lightning took on the New Jersey Devils for the third time in a week on Sunday, losing 5-2 in the second half of a back-to-back and snapping their three-game win streak.
Nikita Kucherov (28) opened the scoring, picking up his team-leading 100th point of the season and extending his point streak to four games. This is his third time hitting the 100-point plateau in his career.
Alex Killorn (22) would score in the second to give the Bolts a two-goal lead, but they would then concede five straight goals including an empty netter and take the loss. They now sit three points behind the Toronto Maple Leafs who have a pair of games in hand, for second place in the Atlantic Division.
Tampa Bay will be heading on a four-game road trip, where they play three teams from their division.
Montreal Canadiens
The Habs will be wrapping up a home and home with the Lightning on Tuesday after taking a 5-3 loss in Tampa on Saturday night. Mike Hoffman (12) scored in the first period giving the Canadiens a lead they would hold onto until the third period. Denis Gurianov scored his fifth goal in 11 games with Montreal and Josh Anderson had an assist to extend his point streak to four games (2G 3A). The Canadiens could not hold off Tampa Bay in the third though as they would come back with three consecutive goals to win 5-3.
Montreal has just one win in their past 10 games and has fallen to fifth last in the entire NHL. Their goaltenders’ stats have taken a hit in the last half of the season, with both netminders holding a goals-against average above 3.3.
