Tampa Bay Lightning vs Columbus Blue Jackets Prediction, 1/21/2021 NHL Pick, Tips and Odds

Game: Tampa Bay Lightning vs Columbus Blue Jackets

Date: Thursday, January 21, 2021

Location: Nationwide Arena in Columbus, OH

TV: NBCSN

Odds/Point Spread: Lightning (-175) Blue Jackets (+142)

Joonas Korpisalo and the Columbus Blue Jackets (1-2-1) play the Tampa Bay Lightning (2-0-0) at Nationwide Arena on Thursday. The Lightning open this matchup at -175 while the Blue Jackets are coming in at +142. The O/U has been set at 6.5.

The Lightning will head into their next game feeling good after earning a 5 - 2 victory over the Blackhawks in their last contest. The Lightning had a impressive offensive output in the victory. While out there on the ice, they finished 5 out of the 37 shots they looked to score on. Moreover, they had 3 power play attempts but didn't net one. Tampa Bay had 8 penalty mins in this game. The Corsi for the Lightning was 41 and the Corsi against was 41 giving them a Corsi percentage of 50.0%. Their Fenwick sat at 36 and the Fenwick against sat at 35, telling us they have a rate of 50.7%. They took 19 face-off wins at even strength and lost 16 of the face-offs. Their starts in the offensive zone came in at 40.5% and they had a PDO of 113.7 in this one. With regard to the opposition's stats, the Chicago Blackhawks put up 37 shots. They ended the game with 6 penalty minutes and they had 4 power play chances.

Looking after the net for Tampa Bay is Andrei Vasilevskiy from London, Ontario. He is 26 years old and has played 120 minutes minding the goal this season. Vasilevskiy is conceding 1.50 goals per contest which has him ranking 3rd among East goalies and 3rd in the NHL among goaltenders. For the year, he's given up 3 goals. He holds a save % of .950 which has him ranking 2nd among East goalies. During the season thus far, the Lightning have scored a total of 10 goals which ranks them 7th in the East and 11th in the league. Their goal differential is +7, which is good for 1st in the league. The Lightning have earned a total of 4 points, which ranks them 9th in the league and 6th in the conference. When discussing shots toward the net, they have earned a total of 70 which ranks them 15th in the Eastern Conference and 30th in the league. As a group, Tampa Bay has racked up a total of 29 hits which means they have an average of 14.5 per game. They have earned a total of 17 blocks for this year.

The Blue Jackets went up against the Red Wings in a game where the Blue Jackets ended up taking the loss by a score of 3 - 2. Columbus had a 43.8% Corsi rating. They wound up with that percentage by having a Corsi of 39 and they surrendered a Corsi of 50. Their Fenwick rate came in at 45.3% with a Fenwick of 29 and the Red Wings earning a 35 Fenwick. These Corsi statistics are telling of the type of game that Columbus had and it tells us that they didn't have their best game. They had a PDO at even strength of 101.2 and they had an oZS percentage of 41.7%. The Blue Jackets converted 2 goals out of the 24 shots on goal they took. They had 2 power play attempts in this one but were not able to net one. On the other side of the ice, the Red Wings had 1 power play chance and went on to score 1 goal. Columbus allowed 27 shots on goal and the Red Wings ended up with 4 minutes in the box.

In net for Columbus is Joonas Korpisalo who is having a good campaign by giving up only 2.04 goals per contest and that ranks him 7th among East goaltenders and 12th in the NHL among goalies. In the 118 minutes he's been on the ice, he has surrendered 4 goals. His save % is .944, which has him ranked 4th among East goaltenders and 5th in the NHL among goalies. in respect to goal differential, they are ranked 16th in the Eastern Conference and 28th in the league with -5. They currently have a total of 8 goals for the season which has them ranked at 12th in the Eastern Conference. Columbus has a save percentage as a team of .902 which has them sitting 19th in the league, meaning there should be some opportunities to score. They have a team shooting percentage of 6.3% putting them at 15th in the Eastern Conference.

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

Josh's Pick: Take Tampa Bay (-175)

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