Tuesday’s NHL action brings us a fascinating clash between two of the top Eastern Conference teams as the Carolina Hurricanes (41-15-6) take on the Tampa Bay Lightning (39-16-6) on home ice.
These are two stacked teams that can score at will and bookmaker Bovada has the odds at +170 for both teams to score in the first period.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: March 21st, 7:00 P.M. (EST)
Carolina should be very motivated to get their offense going straight away after the team was shut out by the New York Rangers on Sunday in a 2-0 defeat. Rod Brind’Amour’s men sent 44 pucks on the Rangers net but it was just one of those days.
The Hurricanes should be also fired up by the fact that they took their fourth straight loss on Sunday. it’s their longest losing streak of the season and they need to end it as soon as possible to stay in contention for the top spot in the Eastern Conference.
Brind’Amour’s team averages 3.26 goals per game, but they also boast the league’s best goals-against average at 2.37 and beating Carolina takes a big effort all over the ice.
The Lightning have one of the top goalies in the game in Andrei Vasilevskiy, but their goals-against average stands at only 2.79 and they are more reliant on their offense to win games. There have been some shortcomings upfront lately with Tampa getting limited to two or fewer goals in four of their last five games. Getting the goals flowing again against a team like Carolina would certainly give them a big boost.
Tampa averages 3.33 goals a night and the usual suspects are doing the damage once again. Steven Stamkos has finally managed to stay healthy for the whole campaign and sits on 66 points while Nikita Kucherov has averaged 1.23 points per game.
The offense also gets a lot of help from the back with Victor Hedman having averaged exactly a point per game through his 61 outings and sitting among the top-scoring defensemen in the league.
Tampa is trying to become the first team since the 1980s New York Islanders to win three consecutive Stanley Cup championships. Carolina is a side that they will definitely have to get past in the playoffs and getting the win on Tuesday will be important for the team’s confidence after the Lightning lost the first meeting of the season 2-1 in overtime on Nov. 9.
