7:09 pm
February 24

Lightning @ Canadiens

Who will WIN this matchup?

Tampa Bay Lightning (41-17-3)

@ Montreal Canadiens (23-29-8)

 

Starting Goalies:

Andrei Vasilevskiy (TB): Likely

Antti Niemi (MON): Confirmed

 

Current odds:

Tampa Bay Lightning: (-175)

Montreal Canadiens: (+155)

 

• The Tampa Bay Lightning continue to post victories while showing weaknesses and hope for a better 60-minute performance Saturday night when they visit the Montreal Canadiens for an Atlantic Division battle. The Lightning have been outshot 73-43 in the first two legs of a three-game road trip, but came away with a 4-2 win at Washington on Tuesday and survived a rally to post a 4-3 triumph at Ottawa on Thursday.

• The Canadiens snapped a six-game losing streak (0-4-2) with a 3-1 victory over the depleted New York Rangers on Thursday and are closer to the bottom of the Eastern Conference than a playoff position.

• Center Brayden Point was picked in the middle of the third round in 2014 and leads all second-year NHL players with 53 points this season, including seven during his current six-game streak. Right wing Nikita Kucherov set up a pair of tallies Thursday to extend his point streak to eight games (five goals, nine assists) and push his league-leading total to 80 points. Captain Steven Stamkos (69 points) notched his 45th assist in the win over Ottawa and needs one to equal his career high of 46 in 2010-11.

• Center Phillip Danault scored one of the goals Thursday in his second game back from missing more than a month with a concussion, but All-Star goalie Carey Price sat out with the same ailment against New York and is out indefinitely. Gallagher boasts 12 of his team-leading 36 points in the last 13 games while captain Max Pacioretty and fellow forward Alex Galchenyuk are suffering through goal droughts of 11 and 12 contests, respectively. Defenseman Jeff Petry has scored in back-to-back games to set a career high with 29 points.

• The Canadiens came into Friday tied for sixth in the league in shots per game (34.0), but 28th in scoring (2.53).

7/10
Confidence
StreakSmarter Pick
Tampa Bay Lightning
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