Stanley Cup champions, a.k.a. the Tampa Bay Lightning, continue their title defense in the 2021 playoffs against the Carolina Hurricanes. The series starts on Sunday in Raleigh with the Hurricanes looking to keep up their immense home form.
Game 1 is expected to be very tight and bookmaker Bovada doesn’t see a favorite here with the odds for a moneyline win at -110 for both teams.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: May 29th, 6:00 P.M. (EST)
Playing on home ice should give Carolina a slight edge. They crushed it at the PNC Arena during the regular season with a 20-3-5 record and Rod Brind’Amour’s team also won all three home outings in the first round against Nashville.
Carolina let a 2-0 lead slip against the Predators but won back-to-back games in overtime to finally get a second-round ticket with a 4-2 series win. They scored 3.67 goals per game and received very solid goaltending from Alex Nedeljkovic, who posted a 2.22 goals-against average and a .922 save percentage.
Nedeljkovic started the year as a third-string goalie in Carolina behind Petr Mrazek and James Reimer, but the 25-year-old grabbed his opportunity with both hands when Mrazek went down with a thumb injury and the Parma, Ohio native hasn’t looked back ever since. He needs to stay at the top of his game for the team to have a shot at taking down the defending champs.
Facing Tampa will be a completely different test for Carolina with the Lightning full of offensive talent. They scored 3.21 goals per game without Nikita Kucherov during the regular season and the goals-for average has now jumped to 4.00 with the Russian back healthy.
Kucherov looked like he hadn’t missed a beat against the Florida Panthers in the opening round picking up 11 points during the six-game series. It’s the most a Bolts player has ever managed in a single series. The 27-year-old winger broke his own record of 10 points, which he had managed twice.
Steven Stamkos, who missed the final few weeks of the regular season, returned in hot form as well with eight points, and head coach Jon Cooper can feel very confident of his team’s chances against the Hurricanes.
Special teams are set to play a huge role in the series. Tampa had a spectacular 40 percent power play in the first round and they certainly have the quality to keep up the efficiency, but the Hurricanes killed off 88.5 percent of their penalties against Nashville and Brind’Amour will no doubt hope to see similar numbers in the second round.
