Tampa Bay Lightning at Toronto Maple Leafs NHL Picks & Predictions 1/2/2018

Tuesday, January 2, 2018

Air Canada Centre

Get todays NHL hockey odds on this game.

The Tampa Bay Lightning head to Air Canada Centre to take on the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday, January 2, 2018.

Tampa Bay has a record of 27-8-2 this year and away from home they have a record of 11-5-1-1. They are 1st in the Atlantic Division. They have tallied 139 goals and surrendered 93 goals for a point differential of +46. For the year they have an ATS mark of 27-10-0 and an over/under record of 22-15-0. Toronto has a record of 23-14-2 including 11-5-0-0 on home ice this year. They are 3rd in the Atlantic Division. They've scored 132 goals and have given up 112 for a goal differential of +20. Their record against the spread is 23-16-0 while their over/under mark is 20-16-0.

Valuable Tampa Bay Lightning Betting Trends

The Tampa Bay Lightning are 27-10-0 straight up this year

The Tampa Bay Lightning are 22-15-0 against the over/under this season

Important Toronto Maple Leafs Betting Trends

The Toronto Maple Leafs are 23-16-0 straight up this year

The Toronto Maple Leafs are 20-16-0 against the over/under this season

Key Tampa Bay Lightning Injuries

12/30/17 GO Peter Budaj Lower Body IR (12/30)
12/29/17 D Anton Stralman Lower Body is "?" Sunday vs Columbus
12/15/17 RW Ryan Callahan Shoulder IR (12/14)

Key Toronto Maple Leafs Injuries

12/31/17 GO Curtis McElhinney Lower Body will not start in goal Sunday vs Vegas
12/30/17 C Nazem Kadri Upper Body is upgraded to probable Sunday vs Vegas
12/18/17 RW Nikita Soshnikov Lower Body IR (12/11)
12/17/17 D Nikita Zaitsev Lower Body IR (12/16)
11/06/17 LW Joffrey Lupul Abdominal IR (10/03)

Player Spotlight

Nikita Kucherov has scored 54 total points this year for the Lightning. He has 24 goals this season with 135 shots on net, giving him a shooting percentage of 18%. He has a total of 30 assists on the year and averages 20.8 minutes played per contest. Brayden Point averages 19.2 minutes of ice time per game this season. In that time he has a shooting percentage of 18% by tallying 16 goals on 87 attempts. He has 18 assists, giving him a total of 34 points on the year. Andrei Vasilevskiy has 24 wins and 5 losses this season in goal for the Lightning. He has 954 shots against him and he's surrendered 63 goals. He's made 891 stops for a save percentage of 93%.

Player Spotlight

Auston Matthews has 29 total points this season for the Maple Leafs. He has 15 goals this year with 91 shots on goal, giving him a shooting percentage of 17%. He has a total of 14 assists on the year and averages 18.6 minutes played per contest. Nazem Kadri averages 16.2 minutes of ice time per contest. In that time he has a shooting percentage of 14% by scoring 13 goals on 95 attempts. He has 10 assists, giving him a total of 23 points on the year. Frederik Andersen has 20 wins and 10 losses this season in net for the Maple Leafs. He has 1,059 shots against him and he's given up 82 goals. He's made 977 saves for a save percentage of 92%.

Useful Team Statistics

The Lightning have 56 total points this year, which is 1st in the NHL. They've scored 139 goals while giving up 93 scores, which has them ranked 1st and 29th respectively. They have had 139 power play chances and scored 36 goals on those opportunities for a percentage of 26%. That is 1st in the league. The Lightning have given up 125 power play opportunities and surrendered 27 goals on those chances for a penalty kill percentage of 78%, ranking them 24th when short-handed. They average 33 shots per contest and as a team shoot 11.54% for the year. They allow 32 shot attempts to their opposition per game and have a team save percentage of 92%, which is 2nd in the league.

Useful Team Statistics

The Maple Leafs are 10th in the league with a total of 48 points this season. They have 25 power play goals on 110 chances for a percentage of 23%. That is 5th in the NHL. They've given up 124 power play opportunities and surrendered 22 goals on those chances for a penalty kill percentage of 82%, ranking 12th overall. As a team, the Maple Leafs are 3rd with a total of 132 goals scored while they've given up 112 goals this season, ranking 18th in goals against. They average 31 shots per game and have a team shooting percentage of 10.95%. As a unit they give up 34 shots per contest and have a save percentage of 92%, putting them 10th overall in the NHL.

Advanced Statistics

Tampa Bay is 5th in the NHL in Corsi percentage with 52.6%, as they've attempted 2,298 shots on net at full strength while they've given up 2,074 shots on net in the same situations. Their Fenwick percentage is 52.1% as they have 1,725 attempts while they have given up 1,583 shots on the defensive end. That ranks them 9th in the league. The Lightning start possessions in the offensive zone 54.3% of the time, which is 7th in the league, while their defensive zone percentage is at 45.7% for the season. That is 29th overall in the NHL. They have 1,083 face-off wins compared to 1,224 losses, meaning their face-off win percentage is 46.9%. That ranks them 30th in the league. On defense Tampa Bay has 702 hits and they have blocked 491 shots from the opposition, putting them 30th overall.

Advanced Statistics

The Maple Leafs start possessions in the offensive zone 48.2% of the time while their defensive zone percentage is at 51.8% for the year. That ranks them 27th and 6th respectively in the NHL. They have 1,258 face-off wins as opposed to 1,215 losses, meaning their face-off win percentage is 50.9%. That is 12th in the league. On defense Toronto has 809 hits and they've blocked 545 attempts from opposing offenses, ranking them 22nd in blocked shots. Toronto is ranked 22nd in Corsi percentage with 49.2% as they've tried 2,309 shots on goal while at full strength while they have surrendered 2,384 shots on net when they have a full team on the ice. Their Fenwick percentage is 27th in the NHL at 48.1%, as they have 1,701 shots while they've given up 1,839 attempts on defense.

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

Guy's Pick: Take Tampa Bay

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