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Jeremy Perry
Edmonton Oilers vs. Tampa Bay Lightning: NHL Odds, Prediction
The Tampa Bay Lightning, who lead the Eastern Conference with 100 points, find themselves in an awkward position. They’ve lost two straight games and are in danger of losing three in a row for just the second time this season. The good news is that the Edmonton Oilers are coming to visit on Sunday. Given how terrible they’ve been this year, the Lightning should get back on track.
Oilers vs. Lightning Betting Analysis
This is an odd spot to be in as the Lightning are going to be laying a lot of juice. They’ll probably win this game but given how they’re struggling – especially in net – you might want to avoid laying a bunch of juice. If Andrei Vasilevskiy is in net, over might be the better play. The Lightning’s contests are averaging 8.83 goals per game this month and 23 of the Lightning’s last 32 games have gone over.
Edmonton Oilers
The Oilers won in Florida on Saturday afternoon, which now means they’ve won four of their last six games. This is now about the third time in the last three months that they’ve had mini spells like this but this is about as long as their “hot streaks” last.
What’s working well for them is that their goaltending and defense have really stepped up this month. They’re allowing just 2.43 goals per game in March, which is the fifth-best mark in the NHL. For contrast, they allowed 3.71 in February, so you can clearly see how much they’ve improved (for the time being).
Tampa Bay is in a bit of a funk right now, so maybe Edmonton can catch them at the right time.
Tampa Bay Lightning
The Lightning have lost back-to-back games and they can’t feel good about either. On Tuesday, they were blitzed by the hapless Ottawa Senators, losing 7-4 at home. They hadn’t allowed seven goals in a game this season. Then they followed that up with a 4-0 shutout loss – also at home – the Boston Bruins, a team that they are competing with for the top spot in the conference. It hasn’t been a good week.
Tampa Bay has to be concerned about lead goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy, who has fallen off a cliff since the All-Star break. We’re talking about a goaltender that had a 2.18 GAA and .931 save percentage before the break but has dropped to 3.40 and .905 after it. As good as the Lightning have been this year, they’re going nowhere in the playoffs unless Vasilevskiy gets back on track.
The good news is that they’re playing Edmonton Sunday. While the Oilers are playing better of late, they’ve still been an awful team almost the entire season. Tampa Bay has a great opportunity to get back on track here.
