The Tampa Bay Lightning will look to sweep the 2021-22 President’s Trophy winners tonight from Amalie Arena after picking up a Game 3 victory on Sunday.
Below, you can look at the loan Eastern Conference game on tonight’s NHL slate and at some of our best bets on the FanDuel Sportsbook.
Florida Panthers (+104) vs Tampa Bay Lightning (-125) Total: 6.5 (O+100/U-122)
It’ll likely be seen as a surprise to many that the Florida Panthers are on the brink of elimination against the two-time defending Stanley Cup Champion Tampa Bay Lightning. Even in their first-round victory against the Washington Capitals, the Panthers have never seemed quite comfortable in the playoffs, specifically their top players Aleksander Barkov and Jonathan Huberdeau. The electric regular season duo has combined for just 12 points in ten playoff games, a big reason why the Lightning has won three straight games.
It’s hard to sweep a team in the Stanley Cup Playoffs but that’s exactly what the Lightning have the opportunity to do tonight at home and it’s a scary premise for Panthers with how elite Andrei Vasilevskiy has been during close out games for Tampa Bay. Nikita Kucherov was quiet in Round 1 against the Toronto Maple Leafs despite putting up points, but that hasn’t been the case in Round 2 where he’s been one of the series’ best players. The star Russian winger has 15 points in 10 games this postseason and 142 in 123 career playoff games, which has helped put this Florida team one loss away from elimination.
You can make the case that the Lightning won’t press as heavy in this game with a 3-0 series lead, but with how veteran and experienced this team is and some of the injuries they’ve sustained in the playoffs, you’d think they’d want to finish this series off as soon as possible so their players can rest and get healthier. Tampa Bay has won two-of-three games in this series by multiple goals and won two-of-four games in Round 1 by multiple goals, meaning you should really like the value you’re getting tonight for them on the puckline at +198, with Florida having no answer for this dominant squad looking to three-peat.
On paper, this series had the potential to be one of the highest-scoring ones during Round 2, but that really hasn’t come to fruition with all three games seeing six or fewer goals scored. The over and under are pretty much on par at this point in terms of the value you’re getting and if the first three games of this series were any indication, the under 6.5 is the play to back here tonight in Game 4.
Best Bets: Lightning puckline -1.5 (+195), Under 6.5 (-122)
