NHL: Tampa Bay Lighting vs Philadelphia Flyers Betting Preview
Lighting Have Won Five of Eight While Flyers Have Dropped Four of Five
The Tampa Bay Lighting (32-23-5, 69 points) head to the northeast for a date with the Philadelphia Flyers (30-22-7, 67 points). Tampa is holding to the last wild card spot with a six-point lead over the Washington Capitals.
The Flyers, in the division’s third spot, own a 4-point lead over those same Capitals in the Metro Division. Oddsmakers opened the Lighting as a -115 favorite but their number was quickly bet up to Tampa -135. The total is currently 6 (Over -120) after opening 6 (over -115).
Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. ET / 4:00 p.m. PT and can be seen on NBC Sports Philadelphia and the Sunshine Network. This is sure to be one of the most entertaining NHL Hockey games tonight.
Lighting vs Flyers 
Day/Time:
Location: Wells Fargo Center
Streaming: NBC Sports
Unfamiliar Territory
This is the time of year when you start to feel Jon Cooper’s Tampa Bay Lightning putting a stranglehold on another postseason spot, but this year has felt different.
We have the Bolts at 13th in our latest NHL power ratings and sixth in the Eastern Conference. Just when bettors start to feel confident with their money behind Tampa they hit a skid to steal the public’s optimism. Tampa has won two straight games to follow a 3-game losing streak.
The Lightning are 13-6 over their last 19 games after a solid winner at New Jersey, Sunday, as a +125 underdog. If the Bolts would do some damage against the better teams in the league there wouldn’t be so much concern heading down the stretch as to exactly what will be the Bolts’ fortune this season.
Against teams in our top 10, Coopers’ team is just 9-13 and 15-16 against opponents in our top 16. Their inconsistency makes it difficult to put them on our NHL power standings list but we think there is a winner to be had tonight.
Flyers Look To Bounce Back After Defensive Debacle
The Philadelphia Flyers kept on fighting back but they needed more from goaltender Cal Peterson (2-2, 3.90, .864) who faced 32 shots and at times needed more from the defensemen in front of him.
Peterson allowed seven goals in his fifth start. It snapped a streak of three games where Peterson played well after allowing five goals in his debut against the Los Angeles Kings in early November. Peterson will not get the start tonight with Samual Ersson (16-11-4, 2.56, .900) getting the call, but Philly needs to play better defensively no matter who’s in net.
Over the last six games, John Tortorella’s team has allowed an average of 3.82 goals per game. Both of these teams would like to play a defensive-oriented game but head-to-head we’ve seen this series produce two straight overs with the Lighting beating the Flyers 6-3 in their only meeting this season. We conclude our Lightning vs. Flyers betting preview with our official selection.
Let’s Get Back To Basics
This season, both teams have leaned under but there are divots in the season where teams lose sight of what has made them successful.
Both of these teams need to tighten up defensively, especially Philly. We feel more confident with Ersson in net as he opposes Lighting netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy who could easily pitch a shutout if the Flyers are throwing less than 30 shots on net.
As the public continues to bet this game over, we’re not getting a bankroll-friendly even money with the under. That’s where we’re officially putting out money tonight as our best bet.
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