Wednesday, April 16, 7:00 PM on CNBC, CBC, RDS, SunS

Tampa Bay Times Forum, Tampa, Florida

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The 2014 playoffs begin Wednesday for Montreal and Tampa Bay with the Lightning able to gain home ice thanks to a strong late season surge. Tampa Bay won 4 straight games to close out the season to edge out the Canadiens 101 points to 100. Montreal has some work to do to pull off the upset as Tampa owns the season series 3-0-1.

Montreal was a respectable 23-15-3 on the road this year but would have loved the home ice, as any team would. Despite going 7-2-1 down the stretch the Canadiens missed out on what amounts to be the #3 seed by the slimmest of margins. They'll lace up the skates regardless in trying to steal a win on Wednesday or Friday to flip the home advantage back in their favor.

Tampa Bay was solid at home all season, going 25-10-6 at the Tampa Bay Times Forum. They were outscored 9-3 by Dallas and Calgary at home to begin the month of April but rebounded nicely with 3 straight wins over Toronto, Columbus, and Philadelphia in the state of Florida.

Three of the four games the Canadiens and Lightning played this year went into extra time which means the teams match up well. Tampa Bay won 2-1 in a shootout back in November whereas Montreal returned the favor on December 28th with the same score in another shootout. February 1st saw another 2-1 Tampa win in overtime. They met most recently on April 1st as the Lightning chalked up a 3-1 victory at home as -130 favorites to make the under bet 4-0 on the season.

ATS Trends

Montreal is 23-18 straight up on the road this season

Montreal is 15-21-5 against the over/under on the road this season

Tampa Bay is 25-16 straight up at home this season

Tampa Bay is 21-17-3 against the over/under at home this season

Injuries to Watch

Montreal

04/14/14 C Lars Eller Illness probable Wednesday vs. Tampa Bay
04/11/14 C Alex Galchenyuk Knee out indefinitely
03/26/14 LW Travis Moen Concussion out indefinitely
03/21/14 LW Brandon Prust Ribs out indefinitely

Tampa Bay

10/12/13 D Brian Lee Knee out indefinitely
04/13/14 LW Ondrej Palat Undisclosed questionable
04/13/14 LW Ryan Malone Legal problems questionable
04/13/14 C Valtteri Filppula Lower Body questionable
04/13/14 D Victor Hedman Lower Body questionable
04/09/14 GO Ben Bishop Elbow expected to miss 3 weeks

Josh's Pick: Take Tampa Bay

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