Tampa Bay Lightning vs Boston Bruins Predictions, NHL Picks, Betting Tips 8/5/2020

Game: Tampa Bay Lightning vs Boston Bruins

Date: Wednesday, August 5, 2020

Location: Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, ON

TV: NBCSN

Odds/Point Spread: Lightning (-111) Bruins (-111)

Total/Over-Under: 5.5

Scotiabank Arena is the venue where Tuukka Rask and the Boston Bruins (44-14-12, 1st in the Atlantic Division) will play the Tampa Bay Lightning (43-21-6, 2nd in the Atlantic Division) on Wednesday. The Bruins open this game at -111 while the Lightning are coming in at -111. The O/U opens at 5.5. The Lightning cover 60.3% of the time, having gone 41-27 SU. Boston is covering 62.9% of the time, going 44-26 straight up.

The Tampa Bay Lightning head into this game holding a record of 43 wins and 21 defeats, which is good for 2nd in the Atlantic Division. During the season thus far, they have scored a total of 243 goals which has them ranked at 1st in the East and 1st in the NHL. Their goal differential is +49, which is good for 2nd in the NHL. The Lightning have earned a total of 92 points, which has them ranked at 3rd in the NHL and 2nd in the Eastern Conference. Regarding shots toward the net, they have earned a total of 2,176 which has them ranked at 9th in the conference and 18th in the NHL. As a unit, Tampa Bay currently has a total of 1,562 hits which means they are averaging 22.3 per contest. They have earned a total of 707 blocks for this year. The man between the pipes for Tampa Bay is Andrei Vasilevskiy from London, Ontario. He is 25 years old and has totaled 3,122 minutes protecting the net for the season. Vasilevskiy is surrendering an average of 2.56 goals per contest which has him ranking 9th in the East and 14th among goaltenders in the NHL. For the year, he has allowed 133 goals. He holds a save % of .917 which has him ranking 7th in the East.

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The Lightning had a 3 - 2 win over the Capitals in their previous contest. The Lightning were neither impressive or disappointing offensively in the win. In the matchup, they scored on 3 of the 28 shots they looked to score on. Additionally, they had 1 power play chance but didn't net one. Tampa Bay had a total of 19 penalty minutes in their game. The Corsi for the Lightning sat at 55 and the Corsi against at even strength was 36 which tells us they had a Corsi percentage of 60.4%. Their Fenwick sat at 42 while the Fenwick against sat at 25, which means they had a Fenwick percentage of 62.7%. They won 24 face-off wins and lost 19 of all total face-offs. The offensive zone starts for them were rated at 38.4% and they had a PDO of 94.0 for this game. In discussing stats from the opponent, the Washington Capitals tallied 33 shots. They had a total of 11 penalty minutes and they tallied 4 power play chances.

The Bruins will be the team across the ice and for the season they sit with 44 victories and 14 losses. With reference to goal differential, they are currently sitting 1st in the Eastern Conference and 1st in the NHL with +60. They have compiled a total of 227 goals for the season which puts them at 6th in the East. Boston has a save percentage as a team of .921 which has them sitting 1st in the NHL, meaning they are difficult to score against. They have a team shooting percentage of 10.1% which is good for 6th in the East. In goal for Boston is Tuukka Rask who is having a marginal season by surrendering 2.12 goals per game and that has him ranked 2nd among East goalies and 2nd in the NHL. In the 2,402 mins he's played this year, he's surrendered 85 goals. He has a save % of .929, which has him ranked 3rd among East goalies and 4th in the NHL.

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The Bruins played the Flyers in a game where the Bruins ended up losing by a mark of 4 - 1. In this game, Boston wound up with a 58.3% Corsi rating. That percentage was had by having a Corsi of 60 and the other team having a Corsi of 43. They had a Fenwick percentage of 59.3% by notching a Fenwick of 48 and the Flyers ending the game with a 33 Fenwick at even strength. This Corsi rating tells us the kind of game Boston had and the stats tell us that they didn't play well overall. Their PDO was 88.9 and they had an oZS percentage of 61.2%. The Bruins netted 1 goal out of the 35 shots on goal they were seeking. They had 3 power play attempts in this outing but weren't able to score a goal. As for the opposition, the Flyers had 2 power play chances but didn't tally a goal. Boston gave way to 29 shots on goal and the Flyers had a total of 20 minutes in the box.

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

Josh's Pick: Take Tampa Bay (-111)

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