The Tampa Bay Lightning and the Colorado Avalanche meet Wednesday in NHL action from the Ball Arena. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best bets for this game. Here’s a Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Colorado Avalanche prediction.
Tampa Bay Lightning Recap
The Tampa Bay Lightning come into this game looking to build on back-to-back wins after a 3-2 OT win over Nashville last time out. The Lightning will take on the Wild and Jets after this one.
Lightning Win Back-To-Back Games
Nikita Kucherov leads the Bolts with 14 points including a team-high 8 goals and 6 assists while Brandon Hagel has 10 points with 6 goals and 4 assists and Anthony Cirelli has 10 points of his own with a team-high 9 assists. Brayden Point has 9 points with 6 goals and 3 assists and Nick Paul has 9 points with 6 assists while Jake Guentzel has 9 points with 7 assists. Victor Hedman has 8 points with 6 assists and J.J. Moser has 6 points with 4 assists. Andrei Vasilevskiy has gone 5-3 with a 2.53 GAA and a .905 save percentage while Jonas Johansson has gone 1-0 with a 4.08 GAA and a .880 save percentage on the year in goal for Tampa Bay.
Why the Tampa Bay Lightning will win
- The Avalanche have lost five of their last six games as home favorites against opponents on a winning streak.
- The underdogs have won seven of the Avalanche’s last nine games at Ball Arena.
- The underdogs have covered the puck line in each of the Avalanche’s last nine games at Ball Arena.
- The Avalanche have failed to cover the puck line in each of their last six games at Ball Arena against opponents on a winning streak.
Colorado Avalanche Recap
The Colorado Avalanche come into this one looking to rebound after a 5-2 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks last time out. After this game, Colorado will head to Nashville for a date with the Predators.
Avalanche Looking To Bounce Back
Cale Makar leads the Avs with 17 points including a team-high 14 assists along with 3 goals while Nathan MacKinnon has 16 points with 5 goals and 11 assists. Mikko Rantanen has 14 points with 4 goals and 10 assists while Casey Mittelstadt has 6 goals and 7 assists for his 13 points. Ross Colton has 9 points with a team-high 8 goals while Samuel Girard has 5 assists and Joel Kiviranta has 4 goals. Alexandar Georgiev is 1-4 with a 4.62 GAA and an .822 save percentage while Justus Annunen is 4-1 with a 2.48 GAA and a .905 save percentage as well on the year.
Why the Colorado Avalanche will win
- The Lightning have lost each of their last four road games following a win.
- The Avalanche have won five of their last six games.
- The home team has covered the puck line in eight of the last nine games between the Lightning and Avalanche.
- The Lightning have failed to cover the puck line in each of their last five games as road underdogs against Central Division opponents.
Lightning vs. Avalanche Prediction
I’m going to side with the Lightning here. I get why the Avs would be favored at home, but the thing here is that you never know which Avalanche goaltending group is going to show up, so I’d rather go with what I feel is the more proven commodity between the pipes and that’s Andrei Vasilevskiy here. The Lightning may have moved some pieces around, but they still have one of the best cores in the NHL from a talent perspective, and I think they get the job done here. Give me the Lightning.