After one of the most thrilling comebacks we have seen this postseason, the Tampa Bay Lightning (52-26-3-5) could be poised to take a 3-2 series lead over the Detroit Red Wings (45-26-5-10) on Saturday night.
ODDS ANALYSIS
The Lightning are understandable really big favorites in this game. They were as high as -201 in Game 2 of this series at home, but they are pretty darn close at -179 for Saturday night's affair as well. The Lightning were narrow favorites in Game 4 as well, and just the fact that they are favored in four of the first five games of this series tells you what the oddsmakers really think of them.
GOALIE REPORT
It's gut check time for Petr Mrazek. After having such a fantastic first three games and two and a half periods of this series, he was terrible in the third on Thursday night, and he now has to suck it up and get back on the ice in short order on the road in a hostile environment. A .922 save percentage for this series is still nothing to bat an eyelash at.
We're still worried about Ben Bishop for the Bolts. He didn't play a great game in Game 4, including taking a tripping penalty in a frustrating second period for him, one in which he literally slapped the puck into the back of his own net. He too, has a lot of work to do in order to get back in form, and the Lightning are dependent on him getting it figured out in a hurry.
QUOTE TO NOTE
"I think we'd gone probably eight periods without scoring a goal in this building, but as soon as we got that one, we grew a couple inches on the bench. It was like a weight off our shoulders, and clearly the game changed the moment we scored that goal." – Lightning head coach Jon Cooper on the comeback on Thursday night
SITUATIONAL BETTING
The third period belonged to Tampa Bay this year, and so it remains true here in the playoffs. The Lightning scored nearly 100 goals in the regular season in third periods, and they scored two more on Thursday night. Had you played the Bolts in live betting when they were down 0-2 with seven minutes to play, you could have gotten a cool nearly 13 to 1 on their heads. Keep that in mind for future games.
PROP TALK
Tyler Johnson has officially come alive. He scored both the first goal to get the rally going in Game 4 as well as the game-winner in OT, and he now leads all scorers in this series with four goals. Johnson is second in the league in playoff goals right now, and he and his "Triplets" line will be great bets for props in this game as well.
ANALYSIS & PREDICTION
You'd like to think that the Lightning are going to be off and running in this series, but we still think that Detroit is going to force this to seven, if nothing else. There's just too much veteran talent here to fail miserably, and if there is a team which can rebound from the disaster of Thursday night, it's the Wings.
Expect to see Bishop struggle once again, and when that happens, the Lightning will be in some trouble.
Detroit 4, Tampa Bay 2
BookMaker will open the odds for this Saturday game before anyone else on the internet. Now you can wager in-game while the action unfolds with BookMaker's live betting option.
BookMaker offers play-by-play betting odds for live sporting events every day! The user-friendly interface on your smartphone or tablet provides an easy way to place bets on the go. Mobile betting lines are updated by the minute, so click here to start gambling on thrilling live action at BookMaker Sportsbook! Game 5 of the series between the Detroit Red Wings and the Tampa Bay Lightning will start at 6:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, April 25, 2015 at Amalie Arena in Tampa, FL. The contest will be broadcast nationally on NBC Sports Network.
