The recap of a Lightning will take on the Detroit Red Wings for the second straight day. Detroit defeated Tampa Bay in a shootout on Saturday, 1-0.
Here you can find the best picks, news, and stats for this Central Division battle at Little Caesars Arena. Tampa Bay is the favorite at -357. This according to PointsBet Sportsbook, which puts Detroit at +275 as the underdog.
Tampa Bay will be without defenseman Jan Rutta and center Steven Stamkos. Detroit will be missing five forwards, including Dylan Larkin, Tyler Bertuzzi, Robby Fabbri, Bobby Ryan, and Frans Nielsen.
Lightning Blanked by Detroit
Tampa Bay outshot Detroit 33-15 but lost in a shootout on Saturday, 1-0. Curtis McElhinney had a light day, facing only 15 shots through overtime, but stopped them all. He allowed four goals on eight shots in the shootout.
Tampa Bay is third in scoring at 3.38 goals per game and is fourth in shooting percentage at 11.2%. They are fifth on the power-play at 24.5%. The Lightning is led in scoring by Brayden Point who leads the team with 22 goals and 46 points. Ondrej Palat is second on the team in points with 45 and is second in assists with 30. Victor Hedman is the team leader in assist with 35 and has 44 points.
Tampa Bay is seventh in goals allowed per game at 2.56 and they are eighth in penalty killing at 82.7%. It will be Andrei Vasilevskiy going for the Lightning on Sunday. He is 30-8-1 with a 2.10 GAA and a .929 save percentage.
Greiss Stellar in Victory
Thomas Greiss stopped all 33 shots he faced to lead Detroit to the shutout victory. He was outstanding in the shootout as well, stopping five of eight shots.
Detroit is 30th in goals per game at 2.21 and is 29th in shooting percentage at 8.1%. The Red Wings are 30th on the power-play at 10.8%. Larkin is the team leader in points with 23 but is out. Filip Hronek is tied with 23 points and leads the team with 21 assists. Adam Erne is the team leader in goals with 11.
Detroit is 20th in goals allowed per game at 3.06 and is 22nd in penalty killing at 77.7%. It will be Jonathan Bernier in the net on Sunday. Bernier is 9-10-1 with a 3.03 GAA and a .912 save percentage.
Trends:
Tampa Bay:
- 4-1 in their last five games.
- 37-19 in their last 56 games on the road.
Detroit:
- 32-88 in their last 120 games.
- 6-20 in their last 26 in the fourth game of a 4-in-6 situation.
That was a huge victory by Detroit on Saturday, but it took a heroic effort by Greiss to earn that victory. Bernier is solid, but he is not going to outduel Vasilevskiy. The Lightning is 8-3 in the last 11 games in Detroit. They have also not lost back-to-back games since losing to Detroit and Columbus on April 4 and April 6. I don’t look for that to change in this contest.
Pick: Take Tampa Bay at -357.
The Total:
These teams had gone over in six straight games in Detroit until Saturday’s 1-0 contest. I honestly look for a similar result on Sunday, especially with so many key players out for the Red Wings. This was the second straight game and the fifth out of the last seven that Tampa Bay has been in a game where fewer than 5.5 goals were scored. In the last four games for Detroit, the total has gone under 5.5.
Pick: Go under 5.5 at -125.