Tampa Bay Lightning at Columbus Blue Jackets NHL Picks & Predictions 10/19/2017

Thursday, October 19, 2017

Nationwide Arena

Get todays NHL hockey odds on this game.

The Tampa Bay Lightning travel to Nationwide Arena to play the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday, October 19, 2017. The opening line for this game has the Lightning at +114 and the Blue Jackets at -126.

Tampa Bay has a record of 5-1-1 this season and on the road they have a record of 1-1-1. They are 1st in the Atlantic Division. They've scored 27 goals and given up 23 goals for a point differential of +4. For the season they have an ATS record of 5-2-0 and an over/under record of 5-2-0. Columbus has a record of 5-1-0 including 2-0-0 at home this season. They are 1st in the Metropolitan Division. They've scored 21 goals and surrendered 13 for a goal differential of +8. Their record against the spread is 5-1-0 while their over/under record is 3-3-0.

Valuable Tampa Bay Lightning Betting Trends

The Tampa Bay Lightning are 5-2-0 straight up this year

The Tampa Bay Lightning are 5-2-0 against the over/under this season

Important Columbus Blue Jackets Betting Trends

The Columbus Blue Jackets are 5-1-0 straight up this year

The Columbus Blue Jackets are 3-3-0 against the over/under this season

Key Tampa Bay Lightning Injuries

No key injuries to report

Key Columbus Blue Jackets Injuries

10/15/17 D Gabriel Carlsson Upper Body IR (10/15)

Player Spotlight

Andrei Vasilevskiy has 5 wins and 1 loss this season in net for the Lightning. He has 210 shots against him and he's given up 18 goals. He's made 192 saves for a save percentage of 91%. Brayden Point has accumulated 8 total points this season for the Lightning. He has 3 goals this year with 12 shots on goal, giving him a shooting percentage of 25%. He has a total of 5 assists on the season and averages 19.6 minutes played per game. Nikita Kucherov averages 20.6 minutes of ice time per game this year. In that time he has a shooting percentage of 30% by scoring 8 goals on 27 shots. He has 4 assists, giving him a total of 12 points on the season.

Player Spotlight

Sonny Milano has scored 4 total points this year for the Blue Jackets. He has 4 goals this season with 11 shots on goal, giving him a shooting percentage of 36%. Sergei Bobrovsky has 4 wins and 0 losses this year in goal for the Blue Jackets. He has 126 shots against him and he's surrendered 6 goals. He's made 120 saves for a save percentage of 95%. Artemi Panarin averages 19.8 minutes of ice time per game. In that time he has a shooting percentage of 8% by scoring 1 goal on 13 shots. He has 7 assists, giving him a total of 8 points on the season.

Useful Team Statistics

The Lightning have allowed 30 power play opportunities and have given up 6 goals on those chances for a penalty kill percentage of 80% this year. That is 18th in the NHL. They average 31 shots per game and as a team shoot 12.33% for the season. They allow 35 shots to their opposition per contest and have a team save percentage of 91%, which is ranked 17th in the league. The Lightning has 11 total points this season, ranking 1st in the NHL in offense. They are 2nd in the league with 27 goals while they've given up 23 goals, which is 6th overall. They have had 31 power play opportunities and scored 8 goals on those chances for a percentage of 26%. That is 10th in the NHL.

Useful Team Statistics

As a team, the Blue Jackets are 8th with 21 goals scored while they are 28th in the NHL with 13 goals allowed this year. They average 36 shots per contest and have a team shooting percentage of 9.81%. They give up 30 shots per game and have a save percentage of 93%, putting them in 4th place in the league. The Blue Jackets have a total of 10 points this year, which is 2nd in the NHL. They have 1 power play goals on 16 opportunities for a percentage of 6%. That ranks their power play unit 29th. They've allowed 14 power play opportunities and have given up 3 goals on those chances for a penalty kill percentage of 79%, which is 20th overall.

Advanced Statistics

Tampa Bay is 14th in the NHL in Corsi percentage with 50.2%, as they've attempted 423 shots on net at full strength while they've given up 420 shots on net in the same situations. Their Fenwick percentage is 48.8% as they have 320 attempts while they have given up 336 shots on the defensive end. That ranks them 19th in the league. The Lightning start possessions in the offensive zone 54.2% of the time, which is 7th in the league, while their defensive zone percentage is at 45.8% for the season. That is 25th overall in the NHL. They have 224 face-off wins compared to 230 losses, meaning their face-off win percentage is 49.3%. That ranks them 22nd in the league. On defense Tampa Bay has 160 hits and they have blocked 84 shots from the opposition, putting them 18th overall.

Advanced Statistics

The Blue Jackets start possessions in the offensive zone 50.7% of the time while their defensive zone percentage is at 49.3% for the year. That ranks them 16th and 13th respectively in the NHL. They have 163 face-off wins as opposed to 212 losses, meaning their face-off win percentage is 43.5%. That is 31st in the league. On defense Columbus has 111 hits and they've blocked 89 attempts from opposing offenses, ranking them 12th in blocked shots. Columbus is ranked 4th in Corsi percentage with 53.7% as they've tried 367 shots on goal while at full strength while they have surrendered 316 shots on net when they have a full team on the ice. Their Fenwick percentage is 3rd in the NHL at 55.4%, as they have 282 shots while they've given up 227 attempts on defense.

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

Tony's Pick: Take Columbus -126

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