The Battle of Florida continues as Bolts attempt to bounce back following Panthers rout in game one
The Battle of Florida kicked off with a bang on Tuesday thanks to the Florida Panthers jumping all over the Tampa Bay Lightning in a 6-2 rout that no one saw coming. The Cats saw massive production from returning players like a pair of goals and an assist from Matthew Tkachuk and a surprising two-goal night from defenceman Nate Schmidt.
It certainly caught the Bolts off guard as they were rarely tested at home this season, finishing with a 29-8-4 record and the second-best offence with 3.90 goals per home game. They will look to bounce back and reclaim their home ice while the Panthers look to take a commanding 2-0 series lead before heading back home for game three.
For bettors, this matchup provides a chance to capitalize on some of our recent strong trends, like our 18-8 record on our last 26 picks, including a 5-0 day on Sunday for the Maple Leafs-Senators game one.
All betting lines are from FanDuel Sportsbook and are subject to change. Hockey is a difficult sport to predict so please gamble responsibly.
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Tampa Bay Lightning vs Florida Panthers Best Bets:
- Lightning ML (-125)
- Under 5.5 goals (-104)
- Brandon Hagel Over 0.5 points (-160)
- Panthers Under 2.5 goals (+110)
The only contributors for Tampa Bay during game one was their main star players in Jake Guentzel, Brayden Point and Art Ross trophy winner Nikita Kucherov. Other key forwards in Brandon Hagel, Yanni Gourde and Anthony Cirelli all went without a point in game one and we can expect a bounce back in a big way, especially from Hagel.
Tampa's ruthless puck hound made his presence felt at the Four Nations Face-Off and returned to the Bolts lineup with the same level of aggression and it translated to goals.
It doesn't matter how many are on the ice for the 26-year-old Saskatoon native as he broke the record for most goals without a powerplay marker with 32 this season. Hagel has started to find more success in the Battle of Florida with points in four of their last seven matchups, totalling two goals and three assists for five points.
He has no points in three straight games heading into Thursday but was red hot in his prior 13 games, where he recorded four goals and 13 assists for 17 points. I expect the Tampa offence to be lead by Hagel and Kucherov in a winning effort as Andrei Vasilevskiy is long overdue for a bounce back start.
The Russian netminder has 17 goals allowed over his last four playoff starts and marks his second-worst four-game postseason stretch of his career, ranking only behind the time he allowed 19 goals through four games to the Maple Leafs in the first round of the 2023 playoffs. He will most certainly find his footing and should be in a very telling performance where the Bolts even up the series.
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