Vegas Golden Knights at Tampa Bay Lightning NHL Picks & Predictions 1/18/2018

Thursday, January 18, 2018

Amalie Arena

Get todays NHL hockey odds on this game.

The Vegas Golden Knights travel to Amalie Arena to play the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday, January 18, 2018. The opening line for this game has the Golden Knights at +158 and the Lightning at -175.

Vegas has a record of 29-11-3 this season and on the road they have a record of 11-9-1-1. They are 1st in the Pacific Division. They've scored 145 goals and given up 117 goals for a point differential of +28. For the season they have an ATS record of 29-14-0 and an over/under record of 23-18-0. Tampa Bay is 31-10-3 including 17-4-1-0 at home this season. They are 1st in the Atlantic Division. They've scored 161 goals and surrendered 112 for a goal differential of +49. Their record against the spread is 31-13-0 while their over/under record is 26-18-0.

Valuable Vegas Golden Knights Betting Trends

The Vegas Golden Knights are 29-14-0 straight up this year

The Vegas Golden Knights are 23-18-0 against the over/under this season

Important Tampa Bay Lightning Betting Trends

The Tampa Bay Lightning are 31-13-0 straight up this year

The Tampa Bay Lightning are 26-18-0 against the over/under this season

Key Vegas Golden Knights Injuries

10/31/17 GO Oscar Dansk Lower Body IR (10/30)
10/06/17 D Clayton Stoner Abdominal IR (10/02)
01/16/18 C Cody Eakin Undisclosed is "?" Thursday vs Tampa Bay
01/10/18 D Luca Sbisa Hand IR (01/10)
01/05/18 D Jon Merrill Undisclosed IR (01/04)

Key Tampa Bay Lightning Injuries

12/30/17 GO Peter Budaj Leg IR (12/29)
01/17/18 D Dan Girardi Undisclosed is "?" Thursday vs Vegas
01/12/18 D Victor Hedman Lower Body is out indefinitely

Player Spotlight

David Perron has accumulated 34 total points this season for the Golden Knights. He has 9 goals this year with 62 shots on goal, giving him a shooting percentage of 15%. He has a total of 25 assists on the season and averages 17.8 minutes played per game. James Neal averages 17.6 minutes of ice time per game this year. In that time he has a shooting percentage of 15% by scoring 18 goals on 123 shots. He has 11 assists, giving him a total of 29 points on the season. Marc-Andre Fleury has 9 wins and 3 losses this season in net for the Golden Knights. He has 442 shots against him and he's given up 25 goals. He's made 417 saves for a save percentage of 94%.

Player Spotlight

Brayden Point has scored 40 total points this year for the Lightning. He has 17 goals this season with 106 shots on goal, giving him a shooting percentage of 16%. He has a total of 23 assists on the season and averages 19.1 minutes played per game. Nikita Kucherov averages 20.4 minutes of ice time per game. In that time he has a shooting percentage of 18% by scoring 27 goals on 153 shots. He has 33 assists, giving him a total of 60 points on the season. Andrei Vasilevskiy has 27 wins and 7 losses this year in goal for the Lightning. He has 1,131 shots against him and he's surrendered 79 goals. He's made 1,052 saves for a save percentage of 93%.

Useful Team Statistics

The Golden Knights have 61 total points this season, which ranks them 2nd in the NHL. They are 5th in the league in goals scored with 145 while they've given up 117 goals, ranking them 26th overall. They have had 141 power play opportunities and have scored 24 goals on those chances for a percentage of 17%. That is 24th in the NHL. The Golden Knights have allowed 128 power play opportunities and have given up 23 goals on those chances for a penalty kill percentage of 82%, putting them 13th in the league when short-handed. They average 33 shots per game and as a team shoot 10.25% for the season. They allow 31 shots to their opposition per contest and have a team save percentage of 91%. That puts them 16th in the league in stopping the puck.

Useful Team Statistics

The Lightning are 1st in the NHL with a total of 65 points this year. They have 38 power play goals on 157 opportunities for a percentage of 24%. That ranks them 3rd in the league as a power play unit. They've allowed 145 power play opportunities and have given up 30 goals on those chances for a penalty kill percentage of 79%. That is 21st in the NHL. As a team, the Lightning are 1st in the league with 161 goals scored while they've given up 112 goals, which is 29th overall. They average 33 shots per contest and have a team shooting percentage of 11.02%. As a team they give up 31 shots per game and have a save percentage of 92%. That is 4th in the NHL.

Advanced Statistics

Vegas has a Corsi percentage of 51.5% as they've tried 2,630 shots on goal while at full strength while they have surrendered 2,477 shots on net when they have a full team on the ice. That ranks them 9th in Corsi percentage. They are 10th in the NHL in Fenwick percentage with 52% as they have 1,957 shots while they've given up 1,805 attempts on defense. The Golden Knights start possessions in the offensive zone 51.7% of the time while their defensive zone percentage is at 48.3% for the year. That puts them 12th and 23rd in the league in zone percentages respectively. They have 1,331 face-off wins as opposed to 1,336 losses, meaning their face-off win percentage is 49.9%. That is 21st overall in the NHL. On defense Vegas has 831 hits and they've blocked 672 attempts from opposing offenses, which is 15th in the league.

Advanced Statistics

The Lightning are 6th in the league in starting possessions in the offensive zone, doing so 54.1% of the time. Their defensive zone percentage is at 45.9% for the season, which is 29th in the NHL. They have 1,282 face-off wins compared to 1,467 losses, meaning their face-off win percentage is 46.6%. That is 30th in the league. On defense Tampa Bay has 855 hits and they have blocked 605 shots from the opposition, which is 27th in the league. Tampa Bay is 3rd in the NHL in Corsi percentage with 52.8% as they've attempted 2,763 shots on net at full strength while they've given up 2,470 shots on net in the same situations. Their Fenwick percentage of 52.6% ranks 5th as they have 2,071 attempts while they have given up 1,865 shots on the defensive end.

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

Josh's Pick: Take Tampa Bay -175

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