Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Carolina Hurricanes NHL Picks, Odds, Predictions 6/8/2021
Tampa Bay Lightning (43-18-5) vs. Carolina Hurricanes (41-15-10)
June 8, 2021 6:30 pm EDT
The Line: Carolina Hurricanes +104 / Tampa Bay Lightning -115; Over/Under: -5.5
(Get latest betting odds)
The Tampa Bay Lightning and Carolina Hurricanes meet Tuesday in game five of the NHL Central Second Round Playoffs at the PNC Arena. The Lightning look to make the conference finals for the third time in four years. The Hurricanes need a win to save their season and force a game six on Thursday.
The Tampa Bay Lightning are averaging 3.60 goals per game and are scoring on 41.2 percent of their power play opportunities. Brayden Point leads Tampa Bay with seven goals, Nikita Kucherov has 12 assists and Anthony Cirelli has 27 shots on goal. Defensively, the Tampa Bay Lightning are allowing 2.60 goals per game and are killing 75.8 percent of their opponents power plays. Andrei Vasilevskiy has given up 25 goals on 348 shots faced.
The Carolina Hurricanes are averaging 3.10 goals per game and are scoring on 20 percent of their power play opportunities. Sebastian Aho leads Carolina with six goals, Andrei Svechnikov has six assists and Dougie Hamilton has 50 shots on goal. Defensively, the Carolina Hurricanes are allowing 2.80 goals per game and are killing 77.5 percent of their opponents power plays. Alex Nedeljkovic has allowed 20 goals on 250 shots faced. Petr Mrazek has given up eight goals on 63 shots.
The Lightning are 4-1 in their last 5 road games and 87-40 in their last 127 overall. The Hurricanes are 9-3 in their last 12 home games and 20-8 in their last 28 Tuesday games. The under is 5-1 in Lightning last 6 overall. The under is 4-1 in Hurricanes last 5 overall. The Lightning are 17-8 in the last 25 meetings in Carolina. The road team is 4-1 in the last 5 meetings. The underdog is 4-1 in the last 5 meetings.
The Lightning are the better team in this series and should eventually advance. However, the Hurricanes have had a fantastic season in their own right and I don’t think they’re going to rollover that easy. In fact, the Canes probably should have won gave four when they scored four goals in the second period, giving themselves a 4-2 lead. I’m just not ready to bury the Hurricanes just yet.
Give me the Hurricanes and the plus money.
