In a game between two teams that are squarely in playoff contention, the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Vegas Golden Knights collide at T-Mobile Arena. AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain will air this East-West matchup, which gets underway at 10 p.m. ET on Thursday, February 20.
Tampa Bay Lightning at Vegas Golden Knights Odds
Playing the role of favorite will be Tampa Bay (-125), while Vegas is a dog showing moneyline odds of +105, and oddsmakers have set the Over/Under (O/U) at 6 goals. If you want to play this matchup’s total, you’ll be looking at odds of -115 money on the over and -105 on the under at Draftkings Iowa Sportsbook.
Tampa Bay is 40-20 straight up (SU) and has earned 7.8 units for moneyline bettors this season. Through 60 regular season outings, 30 of its games have gone over the total, while 27 have gone under and just three have pushed. As the away team this season, the Bolts are 20-11 SU.
Tampa Bay has converted on 23.1 percent of its power play chances this year, a mark that places them in the top-10 among NHL teams. Its penalty kill is ranked seventh overall, and the team’s successfully killed off 83.4 percent of its penalties.
Tampa Bay, as a collective unit, has been penalized 4.0 times per game overall in the 2019-20 season, and 5.2 per game over its last five. The team’s been forced to kill penalties 9.2 minutes per game over their last five road outings.
Averaging 28.2 saves per game with a .921 save percentage, Andrei Vasilevskiy (32-12-3) has been the best option in goal for Tampa Bay this year. If it chooses to give him a rest, however, head coach Jon Cooper might turn to Curtis McElhinney (8-8-2 record, .911 save percentage, 2.76 goals against average).
Nikita Kucherov and Steven Stamkos will both lead the offensive attack for the visiting Lightning. Kucherov (73 points) has tallied 29 goals and 44 assists, and has recorded multiple points in 23 different games. Stamkos has 27 goals and 35 assists to his credit (and has registered at least one point in 38 games).
On the other side of the rink, Vegas is 31-30 straight up (SU) and has lost 14.5 units for moneyline bettors this year. Through 61 regular season contests, 30 of its games have gone over the total, while 27 have gone under and just four have pushed. This season, the team’s 17-14 SU at home.
Vegas has converted on 21.5 percent of its power play opportunities this season, a mark that places it in the top-10 among NHL teams. On the other hand, its penalty kill is ranked 23rd overall, and it’s successfully killed off 78.1 percent of all penalties.
Vegas skaters have been called for penalties 3.8 times per game this season, and 3.0 per game over their last five at home. The team’s had to kill penalties just 8.2 minutes per game over their last 10 outings.
Marc-Andre Fleury (26.2 saves per game) has been the top option in goal for Vegas. Fleury has 23 wins, 20 losses, and five overtime losses and has registered a pedestrian 2.78 goals against average and a subpar .906 save percentage this year.
Mark Stone (20 goals, 37 assists) will lead the attack for the Golden Knights.
Tampa Bay Lightning at Vegas Golden Knights Betting Predictions
Free NHL Pick: SU Winner โ Golden Knights, O/U โ Over
Betting Trends
For both of these clubs, the game went under the total in three of their past five outings.
Tampa Bay has managed 30.4 shot attempts per game over its last five road games while Vegas is averaging 37.8 shots per game over its last five at home.
The Lightning are 13-7 in games where they serve fewer penalty minutes than their opponent and 24-11 when they serve fewer than 10 total penalty minutes.
Vegas (3-2 in shootouts) has more experience this season in games decided by shootout. Tampa Bayis undefeated in two shootouts this year.
Vegas has created 13.4 takeaways per game over its last five home games, an improvement over its season average of 9.7 takeaways per game (ranked 1st).
Tampa Bay has averaged 3.5 goals per game, while giving up just 1.7, over the team’s 11-game winning streak.
Tampa Bay is ranked 18th in the NHL with 7.1 takeaways per game. That figure has trended higher, as it has created 8.9 takeaways over its last 10 games and 9.0 takeaways over its last five.