Tampa Bay Lightning vs Columbus Blue Jackets Prediction, 10/14/2022 NHL Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: Tampa Bay Lightning vs Columbus Blue Jackets

Date: Friday, October 14, 2022

Location: Nationwide Arena in Columbus, OH

TV: Bally Sports Ohio

Odds/Point Spread: Lightning (-165) Blue Jackets (+145)

The Tampa Bay Lightning are hitting the road to Nationwide Arena on Friday where they will take on the Columbus Blue Jackets. The moneyline on this contest has Tampa Bay at -165 while Columbus is at +145. The over/under is 6.

The Tampa Bay Lightning had a rough game after their 2-1 defeat to the Avalanche in their last contest of the 2021-22 season. The Lightning didn't have their best offensive outing in the loss. For the game, they earned a goal on 1 out of the 23 shots they tried. In addition, they had 1 power play try but weren't able to score. Tampa Bay accumulated 2 penalty minutes for this matchup.

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Tampa Bay Lightning opposition had 252 power play opportunities (8th in pro hockey) and scored 49 goals in those attempts. The Lightning had 2,441 shots tried against them and earned a save percentage of .907. Tampa Bay took 2,535 shots and were the owners of a shot percentage of 11.2%. At even strength, the Lightning let the opposition score 179 goals while getting 223. Tampa Bay accumulated 259 power play opportunities and tallied 62 goals out of those attempts, garnering them a percentage of 23.94%. For the previous campaign, they had 110 points and their points percentage was .671. With respect to their goal scoring prowess, the Tampa Bay Lightning tallied 285 goals (7th in professional hockey) during the previous year and allowed 228.

The man in net for this game is Andrei Vasilevskiy. The opposition has been able to score 892 goals against Vasilevskiy in his pro career and his goals against average per game is 2.50. Vasilevskiy has been involved in 365 matchups during his professional hockey career. His save percentage is at .919 during his 21,390 minutes played. He has compiled an overall mark of 229-101-24 and was named the starter in 355 games. In his career, Vasilevskiy has recorded 203 quality starts and his rate for quality starts is .572. Vasilevskiy has had 11,039 shots against him and he has 10,147 total saves.

In their last contest of last season, Columbus went up against the Lightning in a game where the Blue Jackets got the win by a final score of 5-2. The Blue Jackets recorded 5 goals out of the 35 shots on goal they attempted. They had 4 power play opportunities in this one and earned 1 out of those tries.

Columbus took 2,463 shots (20th in the NHL) and earned a shooting percentage of 10.48%, while allowing the other team 2,887 shots. They recorded a penalty kill percentage of 78.57% on their opponent's 238 opportunities on the power play, and their save percentage was at 89.7%. They earned 220 power play opportunities and they have a power play percentage of 18.64%. The Blue Jackets finished with 217 goals at even strength and 41 goals (23rd in hockey) while on the power play. They granted a total of 297 goals to be scored by way of 246 goals at even strength and 51 goals while they had less men on the ice. Last season, the Columbus Blue Jackets accumulated 258 goals, 81 points, as well as a points percentage of .494.

On the other side of the ice you are going to see Elvis Merzlikins in net. He has compiled 3,346 stops out of 3,664 shots taken against him, giving him a save % of .913. Merzlikins has accrued a lifetime mark of 48-44-20 and has been in goal for 120 games. He has started in 110 contests and his ice time sits at 6,632 mins. Merzlikins' quality start percentage comes out to 52.7% and he has 58 quality starts in his NHL career. Teams are averaging 2.88 goals per contest and he has yielded 318 goals overall.

Who will win tonight's NHL game against the spread or moneyline?

Guy's Pick: Take Columbus (+145)

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