Detroit Red Wings vs Tampa Bay Lightning NHL Picks, Odds, Predictions 10/14/21

The Tampa Bay Lightning and Detroit Red Wings meet Thursday in NHL action at the Little Caesars Arena. The Tampa Bay Lightning look for a win after losing their opener to the Penguins. The Detroit Red Wings won 19 games last season and are still looking for their first playoff appearance since the 2015-16 season.

The Tampa Bay Lightning are averaging two goals per game and are scoring on zero percent of their power play opportunities. Anthony Cirelli leads Tampa Bay with one goal, Steven Stamkos has two assists and Erik Cernak has four shots on goal. Defensively, the Tampa Bay Lightning are allowing six goals per game and are killing 100 percent of their opponent’s power plays. Andrei Vasilevskiy has given up three goals on 32 shots faced.

The Detroit Red Wings watch Jonathan Bernier and Richard Panik leave, but they made a splashy move with the addition of Alex Nedeljkovic. A 25-year-old goalie, Nedeljkovic led the league last season with a 93.2 save percentage and 1.90 goal allowed average, finishing third for the Calder Memorial Trophy. It was the first season Nedeljkovic started more than three games in a season, so the jury is still out on him, but if that was a sign of things to come, the Red Wings have their goalie for the long term. The rest of the Red Wings roster lacks proven players and depth, but there’s potential with Filip Hronek, Filip Zadina, Moritz Seider and Jakub Vrana. The Red Wings won’t end the playoff drought this year, but steps in the right direction are encouraged.

The Lightning are 88-41 in their last 129 games as a favorite and 96-45 in their last 141 overall. The Red Wings are 15-33 in their last 48 Thursday games and 33-90 in their last 123 overall. The over is 1-0-3 in Lightning last 4 road games. The under is 5-2 in Red Wings last 7 overall. The Lightning are 9-3 in the last 12 meetings in Detroit and 36-15 in the last 51 meetings.

The Detroit Red Wings have actually had some success against the Lightning, winning two of the last three meetings and four of the last nine meetings overall. That peaks some interest in the massive underdog line. However, the Lightning have the advantage of getting the first game jitters out of the way, and they’ll be eager for a bounce back showing after an opening game loss. Also, the Red Wings are still a below average roster. Give me the Lightning and the PL for max betting value.