NHL Betting – Bolts Visit Pens With Finals on the Line

Tampa Bay Lightning (+171) at Pittsburgh Penguins (-190, 5.5 o/u)

If the Tampa Bay Lightning (11-5, 5-2 Away) want to make a second-consecutive appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals, they will have to steal another series on the road, when they visit the Pittsburgh Penguins (11-6, 6-3 Home) tonight in a do-or-die Game 7 at the CONSOL Energy Center (8:00 PM Eastern).

Tampa Bay reached their second-ever finals last year by defeating the New York Rangers in a Game 7 at Madison Square Garden. Coincidentally, the last team to make the Stanley Cup finals in back to back years was the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2008 and 2009.

Even though they’re comfortable in this spot, the Bolts let their biggest chance slip away by losing Game 6 at home, 5-2. After falling behind 3-0 through two periods, Tampa staged a late rally to claw back to 3-2 late in the third, but the hole was too big to overcome.

Coach Jon Cooper knows the loss has put his squad in a difficult spot. “You’ve got to go back to a tough environment, just like the Garden was last year,” Cooper told the Associated Press. “And you’ve got to have your A-game.”

For both teams, it’s important to come out swinging tonight: the team that scores first is 5-1 in the series. The last time Tampa Bay visited Pittsburgh they needed a late goal by Nikita Kucherov to even the score before Tyler Johnson stole the game in overtime. However, it will be a different goalie blocking their path tonight.

The Pens turned to veteran Marc-Andre Fleury in Game 5, but went back to rookie tender Matt Murray in Game 6. The youngster rewarded their faith, making 28 saves in the season-saving win. He’ll get the start again in tonight’s finale.

Pittsburgh needs to feel great about their chances after surviving elimination on the road on Tuesday. They have dominated the last two games in the series, outshooting the Lightning 68 to 55, and now the goalie controversy is no longer a distraction. While Game 7s are their own beast, they can also take some comfort in their recent dominance over the Bolts at home, going 8-3 SU in the last 11 at the Consol.

Some people may be wary of putting money on a rookie tender in such a big spot, but remember, Tampa won’t have their own starter in net either. Vezina candidate Ben Bishop hasn’t played since getting injured in Game 1. Andrei Vasilevskiy, a 21-year-old rookie himself, will go again for the Bolts.

I expect Murray and Vasilevskiy to both acquit themselves nicely in this big spot, but I don’t see either one completely shutting the door. At the end of the day, after watching Pittsburgh’s stars takeover in Game 6, I’ll roll with Sidney Crosby and company to come out on top.

Pick: Penguins (-190).

(Photo Credit: Michael Miller (Own work) CC BY-SA 4.0 [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0], via Wikimedia Commons)