NHL Odds: Lightning-Avalanche prediction, pick, how to watch
Two games removed from these teams’ last meeting versus one another, love will most likely not be in the air in this one as the Tampa Bay Lightning travel to the Mile High City to take on the Colorado Avalanche in act II of last year’s Stanley Cup Final. Join us for our NHL odds series where our Lightning-Avalanche prediction and pick will be unveiled for all to see.
One of the hottest teams in all of hockey as of late, the Tampa Bay Lightning have won back-to-back games against stellar Western Conference opponents and are giving off a dangerous impression en route to their fourth-consecutive Eastern Conference championship. With a record of 34-16-2, can the Avalanche cool off the Lightning?
Colorado enters play after garnering a big-time bounce-back performance on the road with a 5-3 win over the Florida Panthers. Although injuries have hurt the Avalanche time and time again this season, the defending champions have proven thus far that they will not go down without a fight. Standing on the brink of playoff contention, the Avs are currently 13-9-3 at home this season.
Here are the Lightning-Avalanche NHL odds, courtesy of FanDuel
NHL Odds: Lightning-Avalanche Odds
Tampa Bay Lightning: -1.5 (+205)
Colorado Avalanche: +1.5 (-260)
Over: 6 (+102)
Under: 6 (-124)
How To Watch Lightning vs. Avalanche
TV: ESPN+
Stream: ESPN+/Hulu
Time: 9:00 ET/6:00 PT
*Watch NHL games LIVE with fuboTV (click for a free trial)*
Why The Lightning Could Cover The Spread
Without a doubt, the Lightning are hotter than two passionate lovers on Valentine’s Day. Winners in ten of their previous 14 games overall, Tampa Bay is reverting back to their old and familiar ways where their mindset was championship or bust. A year ago in their Stanley Cup Finals clash with Colorado, Tampa Bay did not have a clean bill of health which ended up costing them in the end. However, things have changed dramatically, as the Lighting enter another bout with the Avalanche as the far healthier team on paper.
However, Tampa Bay can’t take this for granted, as another repeat performance out on the ice when it comes to forcing penalties and winning face-offs like they did in the 5-0 victory will be needed. In that lopsided blowout win in favor of Tampa Bay, it was also the stellar performance of one of the great goaltenders of this generation in Andrei Vasilevskiy that stole the show. Awarded as the top star due to his shutdown start, Vasilevskiy stopped all of Colorado’s 30 shots on goal as it was the 28-year-old Russian’s first shutout of the season believe it or not.
He has stopped 58 of his last 59 shots faced in net ever since he allowed a whopping seven goals versus the Panthers dating back on Feb. 6th. Simply put, if Vasilevskiy stands on his head like he did a few days ago, then Colorado will have a minuscule chance of overcoming Tampa Bay later this evening.
Why The Avalanche Could Cover The Spread
Despite many NHL analysts doubting the Avalanche’s chances of repeating as champions this season, we will soon find out what Colorado’s resilience is made up later tonight. Clearly, the Avs could not have played much worse against the Lightning last Thursday as everything that went wrong did. Fortunately, Colorado could make this a game in front of their roaring home crowd if they put together a performance like the one they did against Florida that resulted in the win.
Believe it or not, after not showing any type of heartbeat against Tampa Bay offensively, the Avalanche took out their frustrations on the Panthers’ defense as they peppered them with 50 shots on goal resulting in five separate scores. In route to hoisting Lord Stanley’s Cup last season, Colorado often dominated the time of attack in opposing teams’ zones while also gaining the edge more often than not with their shots on goal.
No doubt, this will need to be the formula for success against an extremely talented Lightning bunch. Alas, bettors should keep their eyes peeled on Nathan Mackinnon leading the way like he did the last time on the ice when he accounted for a pair of goals. Since the Avalanche will once again be without a slew of their top playmakers due to injury, Mackinnon needs to lead by example and set up his teammates for open looks if Colorado is going to cover.
In addition, capitalizing on the extra-man advantage will prove to be a must as well. In the blowout loss to Tampa, Colorado finished the night a dumbfounding 0-6 on the power-play attack. Not only do the Avs need to capitalize on the mistakes made by the Lightning throughout the night, but not committing dumb penalties themselves will need to be in order.
Final Lightning-Avalanche Prediction & Pick
Don’t expect the Avalanche to come out as flat as they did last Thursday, as getting humiliated on national tv by the team they defeated last summer will be enough motivation for Colorado to find a way to cover the spread.
Final Lightning-Avalanche Prediction & Pick: Avalanche +1.5 (-260)
