Coyotes & Lightning Look to Extend Winning Streaks on January 9: Arizona Is 16-3 ATS as Road Underdogs

• The Arizona Coyotes have won four straight heading into Thursday’s game
• The Coyotes are projected to start third-string goaltender Adin Hill, who will be making his second start of the season
• The Lightning have won eight straight, averaging 4.8 goals per game during that span

The Arizona Coyotes and Tampa Bay Lightning are both riding winning streaks into their meeting on Thursday night. The Lightning have won eight straight while the Coyotes have won four in a row. The Coyotes will have a backup in net as their top two goaltenders are banged up. Will that keep them from another win?

Arizona Coyotes vs Tampa Bay Lightning Odds

Odds taken Jan 9

Raanta, Kuemper Out for Coyotes

Although most of Thursday’s games had an overnight line on the board, the Coyotes-Lightning game was late to get posted because of Arizona’s goaltending issues. Darcy Kuemper is already out until the All-Star break and while Antti Raanta (lower body) was back in practice on Wednesday, he won’t be in the lineup on Thursday.

That means that the Coyotes will likely turn to Adin Hill, who will be making his second start of the season. His first was on Tuesday when the Coyotes beat the Florida Panthers 5-2. He has a 2.03 GAA and a .944 save percentage in three appearances but he’s still an unproven commodity. The 23-year-old was 7-5-0 last season with a .901 save percentage.

Lightning On a Roll

While both teams enter Thursday on a winning streak, it’s the Lightning’s stretch that’s more impressive. The Coyotes have won four in a row but they were favored in two of the games and +100 in a third. Even with that stretch, they’re just 8-7-0 in their last 15 games. However they’ve been consistent moneymakers as road dogs, with a 16-3 ATS record in that spot.

As for Tampa Bay, they’ve won eight in a row and seem to have that swagger back they had last year when they registered 128 points in the regular season. They’re coming off a 9-2 win over Vancouver and the offense is really clicking. The nine goals matched a franchise record while the team is averaging a healthy 4.8 goals per game during the winning streak.

What might even be more important is the play of goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy, who has been better of late. He had a .925 save percentage last season but is down to .911 in the 2019-20 season. However, he has a .932 save percentage over his last six contests and has been quite effective. He’s allowed two goals or less in four of his last six.

What’s the Best Bet?

If you’re going to bet the Coyotes vs Lightning odds in this spot, you’re going to have to lay some juice with Tampa Bay. The Lightning are red-hot, they’re at home and the Coyotes are playing with their third-string goaltender.

That being the case, what I’m more interested in this game is the “Over”. As mentioned, the Lightning’s offense is clicking and they’ll be facing a goaltender who is making just his second start of the year. On the Tampa Bay side of things, Vasilevskiy is playing better but he’s still been shaky overall this season.

Seven of his last eight starts have seen seven combined goals or more. That means all of those seven games have gone over the number. The “Over” has also cashed in four of Arizona’s last five and I expect those trends to continue on Thursday.

Best Bet: Over 6.0 (-120)