Florida Panthers vs. Tampa Bay Lightning Prediction, NHL Odds
One of the NHL’s last games on Thursday night before the long Olympic break is a battle for some bragging rights in the Sunshine State as Florida visits Tampa Bay. The Lightning are -190 on the NHL odds with a total of 6.5 goals.
Panthers vs. Lightning NHL Betting Odds
When did the state of Florida become the centre of the hockey universe? Certainly more and more people are moving there from the U.S. Midwest and Northeast as well as Canada (in the winter anyways), and both the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning usually sell out nightly. It helps that they have become dominant especially in the Eastern Conference.
Tampa Bay reached three straight Stanley Cup Finals starting in 2020 but was stymied for a three-peat in 2022 by Colorado. Starting in 2023, Florida reached three straight Stanley Cup Finals, losing the first to Vegas but winning the past two over Edmonton.
The Lightning are in much better shape currently, leading the Atlantic Division (-1100 favourites to win it) and battling Metro-leading Carolina for the most points in the East. But Tampa Bay is the +190 conference favourite. Florida is sitting co-last in the Atlantic with Ottawa and well out of the East’s final Wild-Card spot so it has a lot of work to do after the Olympic break. To simply make the playoffs again, the Panthers are +175 with no at -210.
This concludes the regular-season series between the clubs with Tampa Bay leading 2-1 but losing the one in Tampa, 5-2 on Dec. 15. Former Hart Trophy winner Nikita Kucherov (2G, 1A) and Brayden Point (3A) lead the Lightning with three points each in the series. Sam Reinhart (2G, 2A) leads Florida with four points. The clubs have split the past 10 meetings overall, with the over-under also 5-5.
Florida Panthers
Florida snapped a four-game skid Wednesday with a 5-4 shootout win over Boston. That could have been yet another devastating loss having blown a 4-2 second-period lead. Brad Marchand scored the shootout winner against his former club after missing the previous two games injured.
The Panthers had a three-goal second period thanks to two on the power play and one short-handed. Anton Lundell, who also returned from a brief injury absence, had a goal and two assists in the second for his third career three-point period. Lundell had his seventh career shorthanded goal to move into a tie for eighth place on the franchise’s all-time list. Meanwhile, Florida has seven power-play goals in the past seven games.
Russian Sergei Bobrovsky, who obviously won’t be at the Olympics recorded his 450th career win and became the eighth goaltender in NHL history to reach that milestone. Bobrovsky did in his 793rd career game, breaking the mark for fastest to 450 wins set by Marc-Andre Fleury in 816 games. But it surely will be backup Daniil Tarasov tonight. He is 4-5-0 away with a 2.89 GAA and .896 SV. The over is 6-1 in Florida’s past seven.
Tampa Bay Lightning
It would have been understandable for the Lightning to have a bit of a letdown Tuesday at home vs. Buffalo after one of the most memorable games and comeback wins Sunday in the Stadium Series against Boston at Raymond James Stadium.
But the Bolts were able to rally again Tuesday, with Darren Raddysh tying the game vs. the Sabres at three at 19:34 of the third, and Jake Guentzel winning it at 4:45 of OT. He was the No. 1 star with that goal and an assist, while Nikita Kucherov had a goal and three assists and is yet again among league leaders in points with 90.
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 23 saves, has won seven in a row and leads the NHL with a 2.14 GAA, but I could see backup Jonas Johansson getting the start in the team’s final game before the break because he hasn’t played since Jan. 24. Johansson has struggled on home ice at 2-4-0 with a 3.69 GAA.
Tampa Bay is without three injured forwards in Anthony Cirelli (35 points), Brayden Point (30 points) and Nick Paul (12 points). Cirelli was hurt last Saturday and had to be replaced on Team Canada for the upcoming Olympics. The Lightning are 9-0 in their past nine at home.
FLA
TB