The Lightning comes into this NHL matchup with one of the best trends in the league, they are 7-0 in their previous seven road games against the Bruins.
Just one point separates these teams in the Eastern Conference and the current Stanley Cup Champions should be desperate to win here as a loss would see them slip from 2nd to 4th in the Atlantic Division.
Thursday, March 24, 2022 – 07:00 PM EDT at TD Garden
Tampa Bay has now lost 3 of their previous 5 NHL games and last time out suffered a narrow 3-2 defeat to close conference rivals the Carolina Hurricanes. The Lighting is currently on a 4 game road trip and this is the second game to be played of the four.
The Lighting has not looked good as of late and 5 defeats in their last 10 games have put them in this current position. At one stage in time, a few weeks back, they were just 2 points behind the Panthers for the top of the division and conference.
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Now Tampa Bay faces the prospect of dropping to 4th in their division and 7th in the conference with a loss tonight. Their goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy has been their saving grace this season, as good as Nikita Kucherov is. Vasilevskiy is the backbone of this team right now.
Just like Tampa Bay’s goaltender leading the charge right now, the Bruins have their own elite netminder in Jeremy Swayman. The 23yo from Anchorage has emerged as one of the best goaltenders in the league, and one of the best rookies in the league this season.
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Swayman has allowed just 2.09 goals this season, the second-best in the league behind Frederik Andersen. Swayman has only allowed 4 or more goals in 2 of his previous 20 NHL starts.
Boston has been playing some good hockey lately and has lost just 3 of their previous 15 games, scoring 3.5 goals per game and allowing 2.3 per game.
*Trends should never be your main source of information when it comes to making your betting picks, they are merely guidelines and mostly irrelevant information but nonetheless can be interesting to read.
Tampa Bay Lightning
Boston Bruins
Moneyline: Both teams come into this match set at NHL odds of -110, although some sportsbooks do have the Bruins juiced to -115.
Total: With two elite goaltenders set to be in net and the fact both teams are defensively sound the total has been set at 5.5, paying -115 for the over and -105 on the under.
Puck Line: Either team to cover the +1.5 PK line is roughly in around -270, whilst either team to win by two or more goals is set at odds of +225.
This is an exact repeat of our Tampa Bay play against Carolina last time out. We expected a low-scoring affair with two top-class goaltenders, which is the same scenario here.
The under 5.5 is our NHL pick for tonight’s game, as you can tell even the sportsbooks can’t separate these teams, and neither can we.
Staying away from the winners market, we are relying on two proven netminders and the 12th and 4th best defenses this season. Even looking at the stats and trends, the Lighting are 6-0 towards the under in their last 6 games and 5 of Boston’s previous 6 games against an Eastern conference rival has seen the under cash.
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If it ain't broke, don’t fix it. We expect the Bruins to pound the Lighting net and therefore we are looking to take Vasilevskiy’s total saves over again tonight. The Bruins have also taken the 4th most amount of shots this season, which should also help this over.
Score Prediction: Lightning 2-2 Bruins (Too hard to predict who will win in OT or a penalty shootout).
NHL Pick: Under 5.5 Goals (-105) at BetOnline (visit our BetOnline Review)
NHL Pick: Andrei Vasilevskiy Over 30 Saves (-113) at BetOnline
*The line and/or odds on picks in this article might have moved since the content was commissioned. For updated line movements, visit BMR’s free betting odds product.