Tampa Bay Lightning vs Florida Panthers Prediction, 5/18/2021 NHL Pick, Tips and Odds

Game: Tampa Bay Lightning vs Florida Panthers

Date: Tuesday, May 18, 2021

Location: BB&T Center in Sunrise, FL

TV: CNBC

Odds/Point Spread: Lightning (-130) Panthers (+110)

Sergei Bobrovsky and the Florida Panthers (37-14-5) host the Tampa Bay Lightning (36-17-3) at BB&T Center on Tuesday in Game 2 of their series. Tampa leads the series 1-0. The Lightning open this contest at -130 while the Panthers are coming in at +110. The O/U opens at 6.

The Lightning were on the right side of the scoreboard with a 5-4 win over the Panthers in Game 1. The Lightning had a solid offensive outing and it was apparent in the victory. While out there on the ice, they tallied a score on 5 out of the 40 shots they launched. They also had 4 power play opportunities and notched 3 goals. Tampa Bay recorded 18 mins in the box for this matchup. The Corsi for the Lightning came in at 49 and the Corsi against at the end of this game was 54 which had their Corsi percentage coming in at 47.6%. Their Fenwick was 35 and the Fenwick against was 41, giving them a Fenwick rate of 46.1%. They had 28 face-off wins at even strength and were beaten on 27 attempts to win the face-off. Their starts in the offensive zone were rated at 34.1% and they had a PDO of 93.9 for this matchup.

The Lightning have had 1,583 shots tried against them and have earned a save percentage of .908. When at even strength, the Lightning let the opposition score 116 goals while earning 140 on the offensive side of the ice. Tampa Bay Lightning opponents have totaled 183 power play opportunities (2nd in pro hockey) and have scored 29 goals in those chances. For the season, they have 75 points and their points percentage is sitting at .670. Tampa Bay has taken 1,692 shots and has a shot percentage of 10.6%. In relation to their goal scoring prowess, the Tampa Bay Lightning have earned 180 goals (8th in the NHL) on the campaign and have given up 145. Tampa Bay comes into tonight with 179 power play opportunities and they have tallied 40 goals out of those attempts, giving them a rate of 22.35%.

The man protecting the net in this game is Andrei Vasilevskiy. Vasilevskiy has taken the ice for 302 games throughout his NHL career. He has compiled a win-loss mark of 190-83-19 and he started in 292 games. Opponents have tallied 736 goals against Vasilevskiy in his NHL career and his goals against average is 2.51. Vasilevskiy has had 9,171 shot attempts against him and has recorded 8,435 total saves. His save percentage currently sits at .920 in his 17,629 minutes in the crease. In his professional hockey career, Vasilevskiy has earned 164 quality starts and his quality starts rate is .562.

In their Game 1 loss, Florida went home with a 52.4% Corsi rating. These Corsi stats speak to the kind of game that Florida had and it tells us that they played really well in this game. They earned a Fenwick percentage of 53.9% by accumulating a Fenwick of 41 and the Lightning having accrued a 35 Fenwick at even strength. They had a PDO of 106 and their percentage of oZS was 65.9%. The Panthers recorded 4 goals of the 39 shots on goal they took. They had 3 power play opportunities in this matchup and recorded 1 out of those opportunities.

So far this season, the Florida Panthers have earned a total of 188 goals, 79 points, and a points percentage of .705. They have permitted 151 goals to be scored by of a combination of 117 goals at even strength and 34 goals while they were shorthanded. The Panthers have accumulated 149 goals at even strength and 39 goals (5th in professional hockey) while having more men on the ice. They have earned 190 power play chances and they have accumulated a power play percentage of 20.53%. Florida has tried 1,954 shots (1st in hockey) and has accumulated a shot percentage of 9.62%, while allowing the other team 1,682 shots. They have recorded a penalty kill percentage of 79.76% on their oppositions 168 power play chances, and their save percentage currently comes in at 91.0%.

On the other side of the ice you are going to see Sergei Bobrovsky in net. He has accounted for 14,482 saves out of 15,803 shots attempted against him, which gives him a rate of .916. Bobrovsky has accumulated a lifetime record of 297-180-45 and has played in 538 games. He has started in 524 contests and has racked up 30,993 minutes. Bobrovsky's quality start rate is 56.5% and he has made 296 quality starts in his professional career. Teams are averaging 2.56 goals per contest and he has surrendered 1,321 goals altogether.

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

Josh's Pick: Take Tampa Bay (-130)

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