Two low scoring teams meet on Tuesday night as the Los Angeles Kings visit the Tampa Bay Lightning on NBCSN. The Kings are currently in one of the two Wild Card spots in the Western Conference while the Lightning are currently outside of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Los Angeles is scoring just 2.5 goals per game while Tampa is scoring just 2.7 goals per contest so this should be a low scoring game on Tuesday night.
This war on the ice will go down Tuesday, February 7, 2017, at 7:30 p.m. ET at Amalie Arena. The game will be televised live on NBCSN.
We'll have NHL odds at BookMaker.eu available for this and every game on the NHL Tuesday schedule.
Odds Analysis
The Kings are playing the third game in a four-game road trip as they were in Washington on Sunday and they visit Florida on Thursday. The Kings are just 12-17 on the road this season with 17 games going under, 6 going over with 6 pushes.
The Lightning are completing a four-game homestand on Tuesday. Tampa got a much needed win on Saturday as they beat Anaheim 3-2 in overtime. The Lightning are 13-12 at home this season with 14 games going over the total with 8 going under with 3 pushes.
Special Teams
The Kings continue to struggle to score goals as they are 23rd in the league in goals per game at 2.5 per contest. They are just 20th in the league on the power play at 17.4%. The Kings rely on defense to win as they are 4th in the league in goals allowed at 2.3 and 8th in penalty killing at 83.5%.
Tampa has a good power play as they are 7th in the league at 21.6% but they are just 17th in goals per game at 2.7 per contest. The Lightning are struggling on defense as they allow 2.9 goals per game which is 24th in the league and they are 21st in the league in penalty killing at 80%.
Goalie Report
The Kings had been getting great goaltending from Peter Budaj until Sunday when he didn’t get much help in a loss to the Capitals. He is 25-18 on the season with a 1.98 goals against average. The Kings have no real backup right now as starter Jonathan Quick is hurt and they don’t want to play Jeff Zatkoff who has been awful with a 2-8 record and a 2.94 goals against average.
The Lightning have an interesting situation in goal as they are probably going to trade Ben Bishop who is 12-15 with a 2.79 goals against average. The team looks to be going with Andrei Vasilevskiy as their goaltender of the future. He is 11-15 with a 2.84 goals against average. It was Bishop who started on Saturday so it should be Vasilevskiy in goal for this game on Tuesday night.
Free NHL Picks
These teams met last month in Los Angeles and the Lightning won by a score of 2-1. Even with that win, Tampa has dropped four of the last six overall against the Kings with the last four going under the total. The teams have split their last ten in Tampa with five of the last seven going under the total.
These teams look to be evenly matched and similar in many respects. Neither team is scoring many goals right now. The Kings have scored three goals or less in 9 of their last 10 games while the Lightning have scored three goals or less in 12 of their last 14 games. It is hard to see both of these teams getting to three goals so I will take the contest under the total.
Also, if the Kings decide to rest Budaj in this contest, I will avoid the total and just take Tampa to get the win.
NHL Odds: Lightning 2, Kings 1
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