The NHL Playoffs continue tonight with Tampa having the opportunity to close out the Panthers at home. Colorado will also look to build on their lead against St. Louis tonight. In the last game of that series we saw Nazem Kadri collide with St. Louis Blues starting goaltender Jordan Binnington knocking him out of the playoffs. Based off that I would expect chaos in tonight’s game so it should be a good one.
Tampa Bay Lightning @ Florida Panthers (Series TBL 3 – 0)
The Tampa Bay Lightning can sweep the President Trophy winners tonight and advance to the Eastern Conference finals for the third consecutive season. Oddly enough, the last President Trophy winners to be swept in a series were the Tampa Bay Lightning back in 2019. Looking at this series you can really analyze it a bunch of different ways. You either think that the Panthers are frauds or that the Lightning are one of the most dominant teams in NHL history. In the first three games of the series, the Panthers were held to one goal in each of those matchups. Throughout the course of the regular season (82 games) Florida was held to only one goal four times.
These teams played yesterday (Sunday) where the Lightning dominated winning 5-1. On no days rest Tampa Bay was 10-0-2 vs Florida’s record of 7-6-1 during the regular season. Given how the first three games of the series, I’m not sure Florida can generate enough offense to win this game. Andrei Vasilevskiy has been unbelievable making 30+ saves in each game of this series.
I thought this game was going to go 6-7 games but that looks to not be the case. Based on everything I’ve seen in the first few games I think Tampa Bay gets at done at home tonight. They’ve been the better team in every area and as I mentioned before Florida doesn’t seem to have any answer to Vasilevskiy.
PICK: TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING (-120)
St. Louis Blues @ Colorado Avalanche (Series COL 2 – 1)
As I previously mentioned the Blues will be without Jordan Binnington who reclaimed his starting role during the post season. He took over after Ville Husso struggled against Minnesota in the first round and led them to three straight wins. Binnington was also a massive reason the Blues were able to force OT in Game 1 and win Game 2. Without him, they’ll turn to Husso who allowed four goals against Colorado in Game 3 after coming in for relief.
If the Blues want to have a chance tonight they’ll have to follow Game 2’s strategy. St. Louis will need to rely on their defensive ability to spark their offense. They have a ton of depth up front that was on display in the first series but has yet to be as prevalent against Colorado. Even if they manage to do all that, they desperately need Husso to return to his regular season form. Without him, they don’t stand a chance against Colorado’s high powered offense.
We saw the Blues go down 2-1 in the first round before rattling off three wins. I highly doubt they’ll be able to do the same against Colorado but I do like their chances tonight. They’ve been great at home all season and I think they’re offered at some great value.
PICK: ST. LOUIS BLUES (+140)
Best of luck, and as always you can find me on Twitter @GatorBetting and Instagram @Gator_Sports_Betting.
