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Montreal Canadiens vs Tampa Bay Lightning 12/17/22 NHL Picks, Predictions, Odds

Tampa Bay Lightning (19-9-1) vs. Montreal Canadiens (14-14-2)
December 17, 2022 7:00 pm EDT
The Line: Montreal Canadiens +183 / Tampa Bay Lightning -233; Over/Under: +6.5
(Get latest betting odds)

The Tampa Bay Lightning and the Montreal Canadiens meet in NHL action from the Bell Centre on Saturday night.

The Tampa Bay Lightning will look to build on their current four-game win streak after a 4-1 win over Columbus last time out. Nikita Kucherov leads the Lightning with 45 points including a team-high 34 assists while Steven Stamkos has 34 points with a team-high 16 goals on the year. Brayden Point also has 31 points with 16 goals and 15 assists while Mikhail Sergachev has 27 points with 5 goals and 22 assists this season. Andrei Vasilevskiy is 12-8-1 with a 2.63 GAA and a .913 save percentage while Brian Elliott is 7-1 with a 3.10 GAA and a .902 save percentage so far between the pipes for Tampa Bay.

The Montreal Canadiens will try to bounce back from a 5-2 loss to Anaheim last time out. Nick Suzuki has a team-high 30 points with 14 goals and 16 assists while Cole Caufield also has 27 points with 18 goals of his own and Kirby Dach has 21 points with 16 assists of his own on the year. Jake Allen is 9-11 with a 3.25 GAA and a .901 save percentage while Sam Montembault is 5-3-2 with a 2.98 GAA and a .908 save percentage between the pipes for Montreal this season.

Tampa Bay is 4-0 in their last 4 games overall and 6-0 in their last 6 Saturday games while the under is 4-0 in their last 4 games against a team with a losing record. Montreal is 16-35 in their last 51 home games and 37-80 in their last 117 games overall while the over is 6-1 in their last 7 Saturday games.

I get the case to be made for Tampa Bay as a heavy favorite, but the Montreal Canadiens have been a much better team than the one that struggled their way through last season and even when they had their issues, they were giving Tampa Bay all they could handle as the last five meetings have either seen a one-goal win for the Lightning or Montreal winning outright. I think we have another tight game brewing here so give me Montreal +1.5.  

Chris Ruffolo's Free Pick: Montreal +1.5

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Chris Ruffolo

Chris joined the Sports Chat Place team in August 2016 and has a proven system that combines multiple analytical and situational statistics and trends to give out thousands of winning picks over the last three years with winning records across all of the top leagues, Follow Chris Ruffolo on Twitter @ruffthepickdawg

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