Vancouver Canucks at Tampa Bay Lightning NHL Picks & Predictions 2/8/2018

Thursday, February 8, 2018

Amalie Arena

Get todays NHL hockey odds on this game.

The Vancouver Canucks head to Amalie Arena to take on the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday, February 8, 2018. The opening line for this contest has the Canucks at +225 and the Lightning at -253.

Vancouver has a record of 21-26-6 this year and away from home they have a record of 11-12-3-2. They are 7th in the Pacific Division. They have tallied 138 goals and surrendered 171 goals for a point differential of -33. For the year they have an ATS mark of 21-32-0 and an over/under record of 30-23-0. Tampa Bay has a record of 36-14-3 including 17-5-1-0 on home ice this year. They are 1st in the Atlantic Division. They've scored 189 goals and have given up 140 for a goal differential of +49. Their record against the spread is 36-17-0 while their over/under mark is 32-21-0.

Valuable Vancouver Canucks Betting Trends

The Vancouver Canucks are 21-32-0 straight up this year

The Vancouver Canucks are 30-23-0 against the over/under this season

Important Tampa Bay Lightning Betting Trends

The Tampa Bay Lightning are 36-17-0 straight up this year

The Tampa Bay Lightning are 32-21-0 against the over/under this season

Key Vancouver Canucks Injuries

No key injuries to report

Key Tampa Bay Lightning Injuries

12/30/17 GO Peter Budaj Leg IR (12/29)
02/05/18 D Dan Girardi Lower Body is "?" Thursday vs Vancouver
01/22/18 LW Ondrej Palat Lower Body IR (01/20)

Player Spotlight

Thomas Vanek has scored 37 total points this year for the Canucks. He has 15 goals this season with 100 shots on net, giving him a shooting percentage of 15%. He has a total of 22 assists on the year and averages 13.9 minutes played per contest. Brock Boeser averages 17.3 minutes of ice time per game this season. In that time he has a shooting percentage of 17% by tallying 25 goals on 149 attempts. He has 21 assists, giving him a total of 46 points on the year. Jacob Markstrom has 15 wins and 18 losses this season in goal for the Canucks. He has 1,167 shots against him and he's surrendered 107 goals. He's made 1,060 stops for a save percentage of 91%.

Player Spotlight

Nikita Kucherov has 66 total points this season for the Lightning. He has 27 goals this year with 179 shots on goal, giving him a shooting percentage of 15%. He has a total of 39 assists on the year and averages 20.1 minutes played per contest. Brayden Point averages 19.3 minutes of ice time per contest. In that time he has a shooting percentage of 15% by scoring 20 goals on 135 attempts. He has 26 assists, giving him a total of 46 points on the year. Andrei Vasilevskiy has 31 wins and 10 losses this season in net for the Lightning. He has 1,377 shots against him and he's given up 98 goals. He's made 1,279 saves for a save percentage of 93%.

Useful Team Statistics

The Canucks have 48 total points this year, which is 28th in the NHL. They've scored 138 goals while giving up 171 scores, which has them ranked 27th and 5th respectively. They have had 173 power play chances and scored 37 goals on those opportunities for a percentage of 21%. That is 9th in the league. The Canucks have given up 182 power play opportunities and surrendered 40 goals on those chances for a penalty kill percentage of 78%, ranking them 26th when short-handed. They average 30 shots per contest and as a team shoot 8.77% for the year. They allow 32 shot attempts to their opposition per game and have a team save percentage of 90%, which is 25th in the league.

Useful Team Statistics

The Lightning are 1st in the league with a total of 75 points this season. They have 43 power play goals on 184 chances for a percentage of 23%. That is 5th in the NHL. They've given up 176 power play opportunities and surrendered 38 goals on those chances for a penalty kill percentage of 78%, ranking 24th overall. As a team, the Lightning are 1st with a total of 189 goals scored while they've given up 140 goals this season, ranking 28th in goals against. They average 32 shots per game and have a team shooting percentage of 11.03%. As a unit they give up 32 shots per contest and have a save percentage of 92%, putting them 4th overall in the NHL.

Advanced Statistics

Vancouver is 25th in the NHL in Corsi percentage with 48.4%, as they've attempted 2,847 shots on net at full strength while they've given up 3,031 shots on net in the same situations. Their Fenwick percentage is 47.8% as they have 2,129 attempts while they have given up 2,326 shots on the defensive end. That ranks them 28th in the league. The Canucks start possessions in the offensive zone 50.8% of the time, which is 18th in the league, while their defensive zone percentage is at 49.2% for the season. That is 20th overall in the NHL. They have 1,565 face-off wins compared to 1,648 losses, meaning their face-off win percentage is 48.7%. That ranks them 22nd in the league. On defense Vancouver has 1,008 hits and they have blocked 705 shots from the opposition, putting them 29th overall.

Advanced Statistics

The Lightning start possessions in the offensive zone 52.7% of the time while their defensive zone percentage is at 47.3% for the year. That ranks them 7th and 27th respectively in the NHL. They have 1,558 face-off wins as opposed to 1,733 losses, meaning their face-off win percentage is 47.3%. That is 30th in the league. On defense Tampa Bay has 1,076 hits and they've blocked 756 attempts from opposing offenses, ranking them 18th in blocked shots. Tampa Bay is ranked 9th in Corsi percentage with 51.6% as they've tried 3,234 shots on goal while at full strength while they have surrendered 3,036 shots on net when they have a full team on the ice. Their Fenwick percentage is 14th in the NHL at 51.4%, as they have 2,416 shots while they've given up 2,280 attempts on defense.

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

Tony's Pick: Take Vancouver +225

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