Lightning Riding 9-Game Winning Streak, Hosting Flyers as -168 Favorites on February 15
- The Tampa Bay Lightning (38-15-5) host the Philadelphia Flyers (32-19-7) Saturday afternoon at Amalie Arena
- The Lightning are looking to run their season long win streak to 10 games
- Here’s the case why despite being listed as favorites – there’s value on betting Andrei Vasilevskiy and the Lightning to handle the Flyers with relative ease
Winners of 9 in a row, the Tampa Bay Lightning are mowing down opponents much like they did last regular season.
Saturday afternoon they host the Philadelphia Flyers who have lost three straight games and are in a dog fight for their playoff lives.
Flyers vs Lightning Odds
| Team | Spread | Moneyline | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Philadelphia Flyers | OFF | +152 | Over 6.0 (-105) |
| Tampa Bay Lightning | OFF | -168 | Under 6.0 (-105) |
Odds taken Feb. 14th
Can Tampa Bay continue their run and win another key match up in the Eastern Conference? The Flyers vs Lightning odds aren’t causing me to shy away from this one. I’m not only siding with them to win, I’m siding with them to win by a wide margin and here’s why.
Andrei Vasilevskiy Is The Best Goalie In Hockey
Andrei Vasilevskiy is making a run at back-to-back Vezina trophies and is on an incredible heater right now. He’s 18-0-2 in his last 20 games. That’s not a typo, he hasn’t lost in regulation in over two months. When it comes to betting on individual games, wins is obviously the most important stat so how about this one; he has seven more victories than any other goalie in the league.
#GoBolts Andrei Vasilevskiy becomes the 7th goalie in NHL history to earn a point in 20 straight decisions pic.twitter.com/1EG3Cvpylm
— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) February 14, 2020
Carter Hart is between the pipes for the Flyers and he doesn’t stack up favorably. Vasilevskiy has the better win-loss record, goals against, save percentage and he also has more shutouts just for good measure.
Lightning Own Leagues Best Goal Differential
Winning games is important, but there’s also something to how you win them. The Lightning have a +53 goal differential on the season and that ranks first in the league. The Flyers are +18 and that also ranks inside the top-10 so this isn’t to rag on them as an opponent, but there is no team quite like Tampa Bay at the moment.
“You don’t want to be in a situation where you’re trying to score your way out of games. You got to defend to win games and that’s something I think our guys have really attached themselves to.”#EDMvsTBL | Jon Cooper: pic.twitter.com/f2DtFhoDtZ
— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) February 14, 2020
Nikita Kucherov and Steven Stamkos are nursing injuries but it hasn’t seemed to slow the Lightning down. They have the top ranked offense in the league having already scored 206 goals despite having 24 games left to play in the regular season.
Home / Away Splits Favor Lightning
Tampa Bay is one of the best teams in the league on home ice with a 19-7-2 record at Amalie Arena. The Flyers on the other hand have struggled on the road, racking up a 13-14-3 record. They are competitive on home ice in front of the rowdy Philadelphia faithful, but once that advantage goes away they appear to be a very pedestrian team.
The Lightning are in better form, have a goalie who can’t seem to lose and they are also on home ice. If you’re looking for more check marks than that before placing a bet your wallet is going to stay in your pocket for an awfully long time.
Pick: Lightning (-168)
Ryan has been working at TSN for over eleven years, and is now a lead writer and content producer at That's Hockey. Over the years, he's launched and hosted TSN's first NCAAF podcast, The College Football Show, and been featured on the likes of TSN 1050, Sportscentre, and That's Hockey 2Nite.
