Tampa Bay Lightning A Best Bet To Extend Winning Streak

The Wild vs Lightning Game Predictions Favors Host Tampa Bay To Keep On Rolling

Tampa Bay A Betting Favorite As Struggling Minnesota Comes To Town

The Tampa Bay Lightning could be ready to make a move as the Lightning brings a three-game winning streak into Thursday’s NHL matchup with Minnesota. The Wild vs Lightning game predictions has Tampa Bay listed as the favorite.

Fourteen of Tampa Bay’s 22 wins this season have come at home while Minnesota is just 7-11-2 at home. Seventeen of the 28 goals for Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov, who is tied with Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon when it comes to the NHL scoring leaders, have come at home.

Tampa Bay has -133 odds to win outright with the underdog Wild priced at +118.

Tampa Bay has won the last two games against Minnesota and that includes a three-goal win in the first meeting between the teams this season. The Wild won seven of the previous eight matchups before Tampa Bay turned things around.

Defensemen Jonas Brodin returned after missing more than a month in the win over the Islanders. Defenseman Jared Spurgeon recently landed on long-term injured reserve.

Defenseman Mikhail Sergachev is not expected back for Tampa Bay until next month.

Tampa Bay is 14th at +2800 in the odds of winning the Stanley Cup championship. Minnesota (+3500) is 15th in the championship odds.

Keep on reading for more on the matchup between Minnesota and Tampa Bay.

Wild logo Wild vs Lightning Game Preview Lightning logo

Records: Minnesota Wild 18-20-5 at Tampa Bay Lightning 22-17-5
Day/Time:
Location: Amalie Arena, Tampa, FL
TV & Live Stream: Hulu, ESPN+

Wild Sinking In The Standings

Minnesota came into the NHL season with the third-best odds of winning the Stanley Cup among Central Division teams.

However, Minnesota has fallen to seventh place in the division standings.

Minnesota is 2-5-1 since the start of January. The Wild has been outscored 31-15 in those games. Minnesota is 22nd in penalty killing during that time. None of the players to appear in at least five games during that stretch have positive plus/minus ratings. Keep that in mind when it comes to the Wild vs Lightning game predictions.

The low point was a 6-0 loss to Arizona. That was the final contest in a three-game losing streak when the Wild was outscored 15-5.

Minnesota rebounded with a 5-0 win over the New York Islanders as Marc-Andre Fleury moved by Patrick Roy and into second place on the NHL’s all-time mark for career goal tending wins. Joel Eriksson Ek scored twice in the win.

The total has landed over in four of Minnesota’s last six games on the road.

Lightning Turning On The Power

After going 0-for-5 on the power play in the previous two games, the Tampa Bay Lightning turned on the power by scoring on all three power-play chances in a 5-1 win over Anaheim.

Five of Tampa Bay’s previous six wins came by one goal and that included back-to-back overtime wins against the Los Angeles Kings and New Jersey Devils.

Tampa Bay has had three winning streaks of three games. A win against Minnesota would give the Lightning a season-best four wins in a row. Keep that in mind when looking at the Wild vs Lightning game predictions.

Just three of Tampa Bay’s last eight games landed over the total.

Last Meeting

Darren Raddysh scored his first two goals of the season as Tampa Bay never trailed in a 4-1 road win as the Lightning won as the road favorite. The home team had won the previous four games between the teams.

It was the fourth straight game between the Wild and the Lightning to be decided by at least two goals.

Wild vs Lightning Betting Preview

Tampa Bay has won eight of its last 10 home games and will be facing a Minnesota team struggling to win on the road. The Lightning has won seven of the last nine games against the Wild.

The total went under in eight of Tampa Bay’s last 11 games against Central Division teams. Minnesota is just 3-19-3 as the underdog while the Lightning is 14-9-1 when listed as the favorite.

Minnesota has dropped its last six games when listed as the underdog with the Wild being outscored 25-8 in those games. Just one of those games finished over the total.

Ten of Minnesota’s first 20 road games landed over the total. The total is set at 6.5 in this game.

Since the start of December, Tampa Bay winger Nikita Kucherov is tied for fourth in the NHL with 18 points in home games so that is something to keep in mind when looking at potential player props as well as NHL picks and parlays. Minnesota’s Matt Boldy has eight goals and 13 points in his last nine road games.

These NHL teams appear to be headed in different directions so when making NHL predictions, roll with the Lightning to take care of business at home.

For NHL betting news, NHL scores today, and more, visit Point Spreads Sports Magazine.


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