Boston Bruins vs. Tampa Bay Lightning - 12/12/19 NHL Picks, Odds, and Prediction

Game: Boston Bruins vs Tampa Bay Lightning

Date: Thursday, December 12, 2019

Location: Amalie Arena in Tampa, FL

TV: NESN/SunS

Odds/Point Spread: Bruins (+124) Lightning (-137)

Total/Over-Under: 6

Amalie Arena is the venue where Andrei Vasilevskiy and the Tampa Bay Lightning (15-11-3, 6th in the Atlantic Division) will play the Boston Bruins (20-5-6, 1st in the Atlantic Division) on Thursday. The line on this contest has the Bruins priced at +124 and the Lightning are at -137. The O/U opens at 6. The Bruins cover 64.5% of the time, having gone 20-11 SU. Tampa Bay covers 50.0% of the time, going 14-14 straight up.

The Boston Bruins head into this game holding a record of 20 wins and 5 defeats, which is good for 1st in the Atlantic Division. During the year thus far, they have converted a total of 107 goals which has them at 2nd in the East and 3rd in the NHL. Their goal differential is +33, which is good for 1st in the NHL. The Bruins have a total of 46 pts, which has them at 2nd in the NHL and 2nd in the Eastern Conference. When talking about shots toward the net, they have a total of 975 which has them at 9th in the Eastern Conference and 17th in the NHL. As a unit, Boston has racked up a total of 554 hits which has them averaging 17.9 per contest. They have a total of 293 blocks for the season. Looking after the net for Boston is Tuukka Rask from Caledonia, Ontario. He is 32 years old and has played 1,149 mins minding the net this season. Kinkaid is conceding an average of 2.19 goals per game which has him ranked 2nd among Eastern Conference goaltenders and 4th among goalies in the NHL. During this season, he has given up 42 goals. He has a save % of .927 which has him ranked 3rd among Eastern Conference goaltenders.

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The Boston Bruins were on the wrong end of the scoreboard with a 5 - 2 loss to the Ottawa Senators in their previous contest. The Bruins had an offensive game that was below their expectations in this loss. In this game, they earned a goal on 2 of the 40 shots they put on net. Additionally, they had 5 power play opportunities and were able to net 1 goal out of those opportunities. Boston ended up with a total of 6 penalty minutes in this outing. The Corsi for the Bruins was 54 and the Corsi against was 29 which means they had a Corsi percentage of 65.1%. Their Fenwick sat at 31 and the Fenwick against at even strength sat at 24, meaning they had a Fenwick percentage of 56.4%. They earned 22 face-off wins at even strength and were beaten on 21 of all total face-offs. Their offensive zone starts were rated at 75.4% and they had a PDO of 80.8 for this one. In discussing stats from the opponent, the Ottawa Senators racked up a total of 28 shots. They had 10 penalty minutes and they earned a total of 3 power play attempts.

The Lightning will be on the other side of the ice and for the year they sit with 15 victories and 11 losses. With reference to goal differential, they are currently ranked 7th in the East and 8th in the NHL with +11. They currently have a total of 104 goals for the season which has them at 3rd in the East. Tampa Bay has a save percentage as a team of .901 which has them ranked 22nd in the NHL, meaning scoring chances could present themselves. They have a shooting percentage of 10.9% which is good for 3rd in the Eastern Conference. In goal for Tampa Bay is Andrei Vasilevskiy who is having an ok season by surrendering 2.82 goals per contest and that ranks him 12th among East goalies and 25th among goalies in the NHL. In the 1,255 minutes he's played this year, he has given up 59 goals. He has a save percentage of .910, which has him placed 12th among East goalies and 25th among goalies in the NHL.

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The Tampa Bay Lightning squared up with the Florida Panthers in a matchup where the Lightning ended up with the victory by a mark of 2 - 1. In this game, Tampa Bay wound up with a 59.7% Corsi rating. They earned that percentage by having a Corsi of 37 while their opponent earned a Corsi of 25. They had a Fenwick percentage of 68.9% by notching a Fenwick of 31 and the Panthers finishing with a 14 Fenwick at even strength. These Corsi statistics are telling of the type of game that Tampa Bay played and we're sure they will look for better performances in the future. They had a PDO of 93.2 and they'll go home having earned an oZS percentage of 48.6%. The Lightning netted 2 goals of the 48 shots on goal they took. They had 2 power play attempts in this game but didn't put one in the back of the net. On the other side of the ice, the Panthers had 3 power play opportunities but were not able to score a goal. Tampa Bay gave up 28 shots on goal and the Panthers had a total of 4 penalty mins.

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

Josh's Pick: Take Boston (+124)

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