The Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning meet Thursday in Game 3 East First Round NHL Playoffs action at the Amalie Arena. Here’s a Tampa Bay Lightning vs Florida Panthers prediction.
Florida Panthers Betting Preview
The Florida Panthers have a chance to take a commanding 3-0 series lead to all but end things against their in-state rival. The Florida Panthers are averaging 3 goals per game and are scoring on 25 percent of their power play opportunities. Carter Verhaeghe leads Florida with 2 goals, Matthew Tkachuk has 2 assists and Sam Reinhart has 11 shots on goal. Defensively, the Florida Panthers are allowing 2 goals per game and are killing 66.7 percent of their opponent’s power plays. Sergei Bobrovsky has allowed 4 goals on 42 shots faced.
Tampa Bay Lightning Betting Preview
The Tampa Bay Lightning need a win here to get back in the series and cut the deficit in half. The Tampa Bay Lightning are averaging 2 goals per game and are scoring on 25 percent of their power play opportunities. Steven Stamkos leads Tampa Bay with 2 goals, Victor Hedman has 2 assists and Brayden Point has 5 shots on goal. Defensively, the Tampa Bay Lightning are allowing 3 goals per game and are killing 71.4 percent of their opponent’s power plays. Andrei Vasilevskiy has allowed 5 goals on 64 shots faced.
Tampa Bay Lightning vs Florida Panthers Injury Report
Ryan Lomberg missed game 2 for the Panthers with an illness and is questionable for game 3. Sam Bennett suffered an upper body injury and is likely out for a week, but the injury is reportedly not as bad as originally thought. The only recent injury for the Lightning is goalie Jonas Johansson, who has a lower body issue and hasn’t played since March. Johansson has been doing work behind the scenes, but he’s still out until further notice.
Tampa Bay Lightning vs Florida Panthers prediction
It’s hard not to roll with the Tampa Bay Lightning in a must win game at home, as the series is all but over if they lose down 0-2 already. The Lightning saw 25 of their 45 wins this season come at home. It also doesn’t help that the Panthers could be down Lomberg and Bennett. With that said, the Panthers have won 6 of the last 7 games against the Lightning and 3 of those wins came on the road.
As I’ve said in other write-ups, the Panthers are the more talented team than the Lightning, and they pack more of an offensive punch. The Lightning have now lost 6 of their last 8 games overall, and the offense has been sluggish at times. While you’d expect a competitive series between two teams that hate each other and in-state rivals, the value is with the Panthers and the slightly more favorable price.