Boston Bruins vs Tampa Bay Lightning Predictions, Picks, Betting Tips 8/31/2020

Game: Boston Bruins vs Tampa Bay Lightning

Date: Monday, August 31, 2020

Location: Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, ON

TV: NBCSN

Odds/Point Spread: Bruins (+100) Lightning (-120)

Total/Over-Under: 5.5

Jaroslav Halak and the Boston Bruins are headed to Scotiabank Arena on Monday where they'll meet the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 5 of their series. The Lightning lead the series 3-1. The odds on this game have the Bruins coming in at +100 and the Lightning are at -120. The over/under is set at 5.5. The Bruins cover 62.9% of the time, having gone 44-26 SU. The Lightning cover 60.3% of the time, going 41-27 straight up.

The Bruins will be looking to get a win in their next outing after their 3 - 1 loss in Game 4. The Bruins had a rough night on the offensive side of the ice in the defeat. In the game, they converted 1 out of the 30 shots they put on net. Boston had 16 penalty minutes in their game. The Corsi for the Bruins sat at 39 and the Corsi against was 33 which earned them a Corsi percentage of 54.2%. Their Fenwick was 29 and the Fenwick against sat at 23, giving them a Fenwick percentage of 55.8%. They took 24 face-off wins and were beaten on 9 of the face-offs. Their starts in the offensive zone were rated at 40.7% and they had a PDO of 86.7 for this matchup. Concerning opponent stats, the Tampa Bay Lightning racked up 26 shots. They finished with a total of 13 minutes in the box and they notched 5 power play opportunities.

The man between the pipes for Boston is Jaroslav Halak from Gothenburg, Sweden. He is 34 years old and has been on the ice a total of 1,833 mins minding the goal for the year. Halak is giving up an average of 2.39 goals per contest which has him ranking 4th among East goaltenders and 7th in the NHL. Over the course of this year, he's surrendered 73 goals. His save percentage is .919 which has him ranking 6th among East goaltenders. During the year thus far, they have scored a total of 227 goals which has them at 6th in the conference and 7th in the league. Their goal differential is +60, which puts them at 1st in the league. The Bruins have a total of 100 points, which has them at 1st in the league and 1st in the conference. In the matter of shots at the opposing goalie, they have a total of 2,247 which has them at 6th in the conference and 10th in the league. As a team, Boston has collected a total of 1,562 hits which has them averaging 22.3 per game. They have a total of 754 blocks for the year.

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In Game 4 Tampa Bay had a 45.8% Corsi rating. They got there by having a Corsi of 33 while they conceded a Corsi of 39. Their Fenwick percentage was 44.2% by notching a Fenwick of 23 and the Bruins earning a 29 Fenwick. This Corsi rating tells us the kind of game Tampa Bay had and you can say they had a mediocre outing. Their PDO was 113.3 and their oZS percentage was 59.6%. The Lightning netted 3 goals of the 26 shots on goal they pursued. They had 5 power play attempts in this game and netted 1 out of those tries. Regarding their opponent, the Bruins had 4 power play attempts and came through by scoring 1 goal. Tampa Bay gave up 30 shots on goal and the Bruins earned 16 minutes in the box.

In net for Tampa Bay is Andrei Vasilevskiy who is having an average year by surrendering 2.56 goals per contest and that has him ranked 9th among Eastern Conference goaltenders and 14th among goaltenders in the NHL. In the 3,122 mins he's been on the ice, he's given up 133 goals. He's earned a save % of .917, which ranks him 7th among Eastern Conference goaltenders and 18th among goaltenders in the NHL. Regarding goal differential, they are ranked 2nd in the conference and 2nd in the league with +49. They currently have a total of 243 goals for this season which is good for 1st in the Eastern Conference. Tampa Bay has a save % as a team of .910 which has them sitting 9th in the league, meaning scoring chances could be there if they are opportunistic. They have a shooting percentage of 11.2% ranking them 1st in the East.

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

Tony's Pick: Take Boston (+100)

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