Tampa Bay Lightning vs Montreal Canadiens Prediction, 7/2/2021 NHL Pick, Tips and Odds

Game: Tampa Bay Lightning vs Montreal Canadiens

Date: Friday, July 2, 2021

Location: Bell Centre in Montreal, QC

TV: NBC

Odds/Point Spread: Lightning (-147) Canadiens (+133)

Andrei Vasilevskiy and the Tampa Bay Lightning (36-17-3) go to Bell Centre on Friday where they'll meet the Montreal Canadiens (24-21-11) in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals. Tampa leads 2-0. The Canadiens open this matchup at +133 while the Lightning are priced at -147. The total has been set at 5.

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The Lightning will head into Game 3 feeling good after earning a 3-1 win over the Canadiens in Game 2. The Corsi for the Lightning sat at 37 and the Corsi against at the end of this game was 58 meaning they had a Corsi percentage of 38.9%. Their starts in the offensive zone were at 39.7% and they had a PDO at even strength of 116.7 for this game. Tampa Bay accumulated 20 mins in the box in this matchup. The Lightning played like an average offensive team in the win. Their Fenwick was 29 and the Fenwick against was 45, giving them a Fenwick percentage of 39.2%. They had 24 face-off wins when at even strength and were beaten on 23 opportunities to win the face-off. In addition, they had 3 power play attempts but didn't net one. For the matchup, they scored on 3 out of the 23 shots they put on goal.

Tampa Bay Lightning opponents have totaled 183 power play opportunities (2nd in pro hockey) and have scored 29 goals in those attempts. The Lightning have had 1,583 shots attempted against them and have a save percentage of .908. Tampa Bay has taken 1,692 shots and is the owner of a shooting percentage of 10.6%. While playing at even strength, the Lightning have surrendered 116 goals while having 140 when they are on offense. Tampa Bay steps onto the ice with 180 power play opportunities and they have scored 40 goals during those advantages, earning them a percentage of 22.22%. For the season, they have recorded 75 points and their points percentage is .670. Pertaining to their scoring, the Tampa Bay Lightning have accounted for 180 goals (8th in hockey) on the year and have surrendered 145.

The man protecting the net in this game is Andrei Vasilevskiy. Opponents have been able to score 736 goals against Vasilevskiy in his pro career and his goals against average per game is 2.51. Vasilevskiy has played in 302 games over the course of his NHL career. His save percentage is at .920 in his 17,629 minutes played. He has an overall record of Career and he has started in 292 games. In his professional hockey career, Vasilevskiy has compiled 164 quality starts and his quality starts rate is .562. Vasilevskiy has had 9,171 shot attempts against him and has amassed 8,435 total saves.

In their Game 2 loss, Montreal wound up with a 61.1% Corsi rating. This Corsi rating is telling of the kind of game that Montreal had and you could say that they have had better days on the ice. They had a Fenwick percentage of 60.8% by notching a Fenwick of 45 and the Lightning ending the game with a 29 Fenwick. They had a PDO of 83 and their percentage of oZS was 60.3%. The Canadiens earned 1 goal of the 43 shots on goal they pursued. They had 3 power play opportunities in this one and recorded 1 out of those tries.

On the season, the Montreal Canadiens have accumulated 158 goals, 59 points, as well as a points percentage of .527. They have granted a total of 165 goals to be scored by of a combination of 128 goals at even strength and 37 goals while they were shorthanded. The Canadiens have earned 129 goals at even strength and 29 goals (22nd in professional hockey) while on the power play. They have earned 151 power play chances and they have a power play percentage of 19.21%. Montreal has put up 1,746 shots (7th in the NHL) and has a shot percentage of 9.05%, while allowing their opponents 1,579 shots. They have recorded a penalty kill rate of 78.49% on the other teams 172 power play tries, and their save percentage is 89.6%.

Across the ice you are likely to see Carey Price in the crease. The opposition is averaging 2.50 goals per contest and he has conceded 1,737 goals altogether. Price's percentage of quality starts sits at 57.4% and he has 399 quality starts in his hockey career. He got the starting nod in 695 games and has played for a total of 41,707 minutes. Price is sitting with a career mark of Career and has been in goal for 707 contests. He has compiled 19,174 saves out of 20,911 shots attempted against him, which gives him a save % of .917.

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

Josh's Pick: Take Tampa Bay (-147)

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