Free NHL Hockey Prediction: Penguins vs. Lightning NHL Odds
Looking for Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Tampa Bay Lightning free hockey plays & NHL Odds? NHL betting sees the Penguins taking on the Lightning on Tuesday, October 12th at Amalie Arena in Tampa Bay, Florida. Cappers Picks provides complimentary expert handicapping picks on all NHL Hockey games all season long so stay tuned for more FREE daily NHL hockey predictions like this Penguins Lightning matchup.
(0-0) Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Tampa Bay Lightning (0-0)
Date: Tuesday, October 12th
Time: 7:30 PM ET
Venue: Amalie Arena, Tampa Bay FL
NHL Hockey Moneyline Odds: Penguins +205 Lightning -245 (Bet Now!)
NHL Hockey Puck Line Odds: Lightning -1.5 (+110)
NHL Betting Total: 6
It’s another year and another Stanley Cup win for the Lightning who kick off their quest for a 3-peat on Tuesday night at home against the Penguins. You might think these long playoff runs are going to catch up with Tampa Bay, but they come into this game almost completely healthy.
Health is not on the side of the Penguins, who will be without Sidney Crosby (wrist) and Evgeni Malkin (knee) in the season opener. Crosby is back in the next week, but Malkin is sidelined for likely a couple months after offseason surgery.
Pittsburgh Penguins
So who steps up in the absence of Crosby and Malkin to help Pittsburgh get this win to cash out the +205? The Penguins are used to playing without Malkin who had 28 points in just 33 games last year, but Crosby was the leading scorer with 62 points in 55 games.
Jake Guentzel had 23 goals last season and Kris Letang is a great facilitator from the back line with 38 assists in 2020. Bryan Rust was the 4th Pittsburgh player with 40+ points last year as well so there is some potential there.
The big problem for Pittsburgh on Tuesday night is that they’re up against Andrei Vasilevskiy who was the runner up in Vezina Trophy voting last year as the league’s top goaltender. Tampa Bay had a top 10 defense overall last season.
Pittsburgh goes with Tristan Jarry in the 2021 season opener and they hope he’s put a rough postseason behind him over the long break. Jarry was 2-4 in the playoffs as the Penguins were eliminated in the first round by the Islanders.
Tampa Bay Lightning
While Pittsburgh is without their two stars for the opener, Tampa Bay welcomes Nikita Kucherov back for his first regular season game in two years after sitting out all of last year after hip surgery. Kucherov returned for the playoffs and showed no rust, scoring 32 points in 23 games.
Tampa Bay had a lot of players step up in Kucherov’s absence led by Brayden Point (48 points), Ondrej Palat (46), and Victor Hedman (45). The Lightning did have some considerable turnover in the offseason and must replace their entire third line, but the team also brought in veteran Corey Perry to bring some toughness to this squad as they’ll be marked as the two-time champs.
Vasilevskiy gives the Lightning value no matter the price each and every time he takes the net. He was 31-11 last year with a 2.21 GAA that was 8th best in the league.
NHL Betting Trends:
- Penguins are 27-13 last 40 overall
- Penguins are 2-7 last 5 vs. Eastern Conference
- OVER is 4-1 in Penguins last 5 road games
- OVER is 7-3-1 in Penguins last 11 vs. Eastern Conference
- Lightning are 51-19 last 70 home games
- Lightning are 50-19 last 69 as home favorite
- Lightning are 5-0 last 5 head to head in Tampa Bay
Free Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Pittsburgh Penguins NHL Prediction:
There can be some distractions as the Lightning raise the banner to celebrate their 2nd Stanley Cup title in a row. Tampa Bay also doesn’t treat the regular season as critical as they used to finishing 3rd in the Central last year and still turning it on to win in the playoffs.
That being said, Pittsburgh is very thin without Crosby and Malkin and the Penguins also haven’t played many away games in front of full attendance as capacity was limited until the playoffs last year.
4* Free NHL Betting Pick: Lightning -1.5 (+110)
It’s going to be an electric night in Tampa Bay
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