Thursday, March 23, 2017

TD Garden

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The Tampa Bay Lightning travel to TD Garden to play the Boston Bruins on Thursday, March 23, 2017. The opening line for this game has the Lightning at +188 and the Bruins at -210. The over/under has been set at 5.5.

Tampa Bay comes into this matchup having played 72 games. They have an overall record of 34-29-9 and on the road they have a record of 15-15-6. Currently they are 5th in the Atlantic Division. They've scored 197 goals and given up 202 goals for a point differential of -5. The Lightning have an overall record of 5-4-1 in their last 10 games. For the season they have an ATS record of 30-38 and an over/under record of 32-33-7. Boston shows up with a record of 38-29-6 including 19-15-0 at home this season. They are 3rd in the Atlantic Division. They've scored 209 goals and surrendered 195 for a goal differential of +14. The Bruins have a record of 5-5-0 in their last 10 contests. Their record against the spread is 36-35 while their over/under record sits at 35-30-8.

For expert handicapping advice on this game check out our NHL expert handicapper tips.

Valuable Tampa Bay Lightning Betting Trends

The Tampa Bay Lightning are 30-38 straight up

The Tampa Bay Lightning are 32-33-7 against the over/under

Important Boston Bruins Betting Trends

The Boston Bruins are 36-35 straight up

The Boston Bruins are 35-30-8 against the over/under

Key Tampa Bay Lightning Injuries

03/21/17 C Cedric Paquette Lower Body "?" Thursday vs. Boston
03/21/17 C Tyler Johnson Lower Body out indefinitely
03/10/17 C Steven Stamkos Knee out indefinitely
01/15/17 RW Ryan Callahan Hip out for season

Key Boston Bruins Injuries

03/13/17 C Tim Schaller Lower Body out indefinitely

Player Spotlight

Nikita Kucherov has accumulated 73 total points this season for the Lightning. He has 34 goals this season with 220 shots on goal giving him a shooting percentage of 16%. He has a total of 39 assists on the season and averages 19.4 minutes played per game. Victor Hedman has averaged 24.2 minutes of ice time per game this year. In that time he has a shooting percentage of 10% by scoring 15 goals on 144 shots. He has 45 assists giving him a total of 60 points on the season. Andrei Vasilevskiy has 17 wins and 16 losses this season in net for the Lightning. He has had 1,230 shots against him and has given up 105 goals. He has made 1,125 saves for a save percentage of 92%.

Player Spotlight

Brad Marchand has accumulated 80 total points this season for the Bruins. He has 37 goals this season with 210 shots on goal giving him a shooting percentage of 18%. He has a total of 43 assists on the season and averages 19.6 minutes played per game. David Pastrnak has averaged 18 minutes of ice time per game. In that time he has a shooting percentage of 13% by scoring 31 goals on 239 shots. He has 32 assists giving him a total of 63 points on the season. Tuukka Rask has 33 wins and 19 losses this season in net for the Bruins. He has had 1,442 shots against him and has given up 128 goals. He has made 1,314 saves for a save percentage of 91%.

Useful Team Statistics

The Lightning have 77 total points this season. They have scored 197 goals while giving up 202 goals. They have had 246 power play opportunities and have scored 54 goals on those chances for a percentage of 22%. The Lightning have allowed 232 power play opportunities and given up 45 goals on those chances for a penalty kill percentage of 81%. They average 30 shots per game and as a team are shooting 9.10% for the season to this point. They allow 30 shots to their opposition per contest and have a team save percentage of 91%.

Useful Team Statistics

The Bruins have a total of 82 points on the season. They have 47 power play goals on 222 opportunities thus far for a percentage of 21%. They have allowed 234 power play opportunities and have given up 35 goals on those chances for a penalty kill percentage of 85%. As a team, the Lightning have a total of 209 goals scored while they've given up 195 goals to this point. They average 34 shots per contest and have a team shooting percentage of 8.46%. As a team they give up 27 shots per game and have a save percentage of 90%.

Advanced Statistics

Tampa Bay has a Corsi percentage of 51.4% as they've attempted 4,075 shots on net at full strength while they've given up 3,853 shots on net in the same situations. Their Fenwick percentage is at 50.7% as they have 3,061 attempts while they've given up 2,972 shots on the defensive end. The Lightning start possessions in the offensive zone 50.8% of the time while their defensive zone percentage is at 49.2% for the season. They have 2,116 face off wins compared to 2,254 losses, meaning their faceoff win percentage is 48.4%. On defense has 1,578 hits and they've blocked 881 shots from the opposition.

Advanced Statistics

Boston has attempted 4,525 shots at full strength and they've given up 3,699 attempts, meaning their Corsi percentage is at 55% for the season. In terms of Fenwick percentage, they currently are at 55.7% as they have 3,446 shots while they've given up 2,741 attempts on defense. The Bruins have an offensive zone percentage of 53.9% and their defensive zone percentage is 46.1% so far this season. They have a faceoff win percentage of 53% as they've compiled 2,401 face off wins this season and they have suffered 2,125 face off losses. On defense has blocked 958 shot attempts and they have 1,562 hits as a unit.

Who will win tonight's Lightning/Bruins NHL game against the spread?

Guy's Pick: Take Boston -210

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