The Tampa Bay Lightning (54-27-3-5) swept the Montreal Canadiens (54-24-5-5) in the regular season. However, when these two met with all of the marbles on the line last year in the playoffs, it was the Habs who busted out the brooms on the Bolts. Game 1 will be pivotal in this de facto pick 'em series on Friday night.
ODDS ANALYSIS
Expect to see a lot of this over the course of this series. Montreal is favored by a -135 margin, which is just about what we can expect to see from the home teams for the series entirety.
GOALIE REPORT
Ben Bishop came up with the game of his life when he needed it the most. Playing in his very first Game 7, he stopped all 31 shots he faced against the Red Wings to pick up his first career shutout in the postseason.
The bad news for Bishop is that he is going to be opposing the man who is sure to win the Vezina Trophy and maybe even the Hart Memorial Trophy as well in Carey Price. Price posted a 1.94 GAA and a .939 save percentage in the opening round of the playoffs against Ottawa, and he was the best player on the ice in virtually every game.
QUOTE TO NOTE
"Tampa's got team speed. They're very fast. You gotta be aware of their forwards when you're on the ice, and they can break a game open; we've seen them do that in these playoffs, being down a couple goals and still coming back." – Montreal defenseman P.K. Subban on the Lightning and the challenges they will present to the Habs in this series
SITUATIONAL BETTING
Power plays might as well have been power outages for these teams in the postseason. The Lightning went just 2-of-30 against Detroit in the seven games on the man advantage. Montreal was only 1-of-20. The Habs have had the greater problems throughout the whole season though, and they should be concerned going into this series from that standpoint.
PROP TALK
Ten different Canadiens scored goals in the six games against Ottawa last round, and that makes life really difficult when it comes to betting props. The Lightning tend to be a little more condensed in terms of their scoring with their top lines, and we wouldn't have a problem taking any member of the Tampa Bay forward unit against any Montreal forward in this game in terms of total points scored or goals scored.
ANALYSIS & PREDICTION
The Canadiens have had a few extra days to prepare for this series, and we think they got exactly what they wanted in another meeting with Tampa Bay.
Sure, the Lightning might have swept the five games in the regular season between these two teams, but this is playoff hockey. As we saw against Detroit, the Bolts weren't always the more physical team on the ice, and for our money, they were quite lucky to even reach a Game 7.
The Habs should be favored by a bigger margin than this in this game, and we think they are going to take care of business with ease in Game 1 to set the tone.
Montreal 4, Tampa Bay 1
The NHL odds for this Friday contest were released first by BookMaker. Montreal was a -135 favorite, while the total was set at 5. Since this game can be seen by anyone with a TV, BookMaker will have a multitude of wagering options available for it. Outside of the normal lines, you can gamble on real-time odds and player props during the game. Live betting is open during every commercial break!
Access live betting lines from your mobile device or tablet at BookMaker Sportsbook! You can wager on sporting events as they unfold on television with BookMaker's live betting platform. Real-time spreads, totals, props and moneyline odds are all available by clicking here, so start betting with BookMaker today! The matchup between the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Montreal Canadiens will start at 7:00 p.m. ET on Friday, May 1, 2015 at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Game 1 of this series will be televised live on NBC Sports Network.
