Nashville Predators vs Tampa Bay Lightning Prediction, 2/1/2021 NHL Pick, Tips and Odds

Game: Nashville Predators vs Tampa Bay Lightning

Date: Monday, February 1, 2021

Location: Amalie Arena in Tampa, FL

TV: SUN

Odds/Point Spread: Predators (+145) Lightning (-175)

Juuse Saros and the Nashville Predators (4-4-0) go to Amalie Arena on Monday where they'll take on the Tampa Bay Lightning (4-1-1). The Lightning open this matchup at -175 while the Predators are coming in at +145. The total is set at 6.5.

The Predators will be looking to get a win in their next outing after their 4 - 3 defeat to the Lightning the last time they stepped on the ice. The Predators had a middle of the road offensive output in this loss. In the outing, they converted 3 of the 26 shots they put on net. They also had 5 power play attempts and scored 2 goals out of those tries. Nashville racked up a total of 34 penalty mins in their game. The Corsi for the Predators sat at 26 and the Corsi against was 25 which earned them a Corsi percentage of 51.0%. Their Fenwick sat at 18 and the Fenwick against was 22, which means they had a Fenwick percentage of 45.0%. They earned 12 face-off wins and lost 22 tries to control the puck. The offensive zone starts for them were rated at 43.8% and they had a PDO of 93.8 in this one. With regard to the opposition's stats, the Tampa Bay Lightning racked up 33 shots. They had 30 penalty minutes and they notched 7 power play opportunities.

Nashville Predators opponents have totaled 33 power play opportunities (9th in the NHL) and have scored 12 goals in those chances. The Predators have had 231 shots tried against them and have earned a save percentage of .896. Nashville has attempted 259 shots and has a shooting percentage of 7.3%. While playing at even strength, the Predators let the opposition score 11 goals while earning 15 on the offensive side of the ice. Nashville has accumulated 33 power play opportunities and they have tallied 4 goals out of those chances, giving them a rate of 12.12%. For the current campaign, they have 8 points and their points percentage sits at .500. In the matter of their goal scoring prowess, the Nashville Predators have tallied 19 goals (24th in the NHL) this year and have surrendered 24.

Protecting the goal for this matchup will be Juuse Saros. Opponents have been able to score 295 goals against Saros in his NHL career and his average for goals against per game is 2.56. Saros has taken the ice for 124 games throughout his hockey career. His save percentage currently is .918 for his 6,912 minutes guarding the cage. He has a mark of 58-38-16 and he was named the starter in 109 games. Over the course of his career, Saros has compiled 65 quality starts and his quality starts percentage is .596. Saros has had 3,605 shots taken against him and he has 3,310 saves.

In their win over Nashville, Tampa Bay wound up with a 49.0% Corsi rating. They got there by having a Corsi of 25 and they gave up a Corsi of 26. Their Fenwick rate came in at 55.0% with a Fenwick of 22 and the Predators earning a 18 Fenwick at even strength. This Corsi rating is telling of the kind of game that Tampa Bay played and we'd say they played well overall. Their PDO was 106.2 and their oZS percentage was 56.3%. The Lightning converted 4 goals of the 33 shots on goal they took. They had 7 power play chances in this one and were able to notch 2 out of those opportunities. In discussing their opponent, the Predators had 5 power play opportunities and used that advantage to score 2 goals. Tampa Bay allowed 26 shots on goal and the Predators ended up with a total of 34 penalty mins.

Tampa Bay has put up 204 shots (28th in hockey) and has a shot percentage of 9.31%, while allowing the other team 174 shots. They have a penalty kill rate of 77.27% on their opponents 22 opportunities on the power play, and their save percentage is currently 9.3%. They have a total of 21 power play chances and they have accumulated a power play rate of 23.81%. The Lightning have 14 goals at even strength and 5 goals (20th in professional hockey) while having more men on the ice. They have permitted 14 goals to be scored by of a combination of 9 goals at even strength and 5 goals while they had less men on the ice. On the campaign, the Tampa Bay Lightning have earned 19 goals, 9 points, in addition to a points percentage of .750.

On the other side of the ice you are going to see Andrei Vasilevskiy protecting the goal. His opponents are averaging 2.54 goals/game and he has given up 656 goals overall. Vasilevskiy's quality start rate is 56.3% and he has 144 quality starting assignments in his career. He got the starting nod in 256 games and has played 15,467 minutes. Vasilevskiy has a career mark of 163-74-19 and has been in goal for 266 games. He has accounted for 7,451 stops out of the 8,107 shots taken, which gives him a save percentage of .919.

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

Josh's Pick: Take Nashville (+145)

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