It has been an interesting weekend in the NHL playoffs and tonight four important 3rd games are set to take place. The Red Wings and Canadiens look to take strangeholds on their series’ while the Flyers, Sabres, Penguins and Lightning head to the ice with the hopes of winning a pivotal game 3.
Pittsburgh Penguins @ Tampa Bay Lightning
The Penguins have had the entire weekend to think about their big 5-1 loss at the hands of the Lightning on Friday night. Fleury likely wishes he had a few of those goals back and will be chomping at the bit tonight in order to put that loss behind him with a strong outing. A lot went wrong for the Penguins on Friday night and although they outshot the Lightning 36-21 there was not a lot of good to take from the game. The Pens also outplayed Tampa in game one outshooting their opponents 40-32, but their strong defensive play did not allow the Lightning as many quality scoring chances and Marc Andre Fleury stood on his head when called upon. The Penguins will have to once again focus on defensive hockey because their chances will come. The only problem is that the Penguins will likely need more chances to put the puck in the net because without their top scorers Crosby and Malkin, the team is built mainly with grinders, as opposed to the Lightning who have a lot of skilled players up front who will bury their chances more often than not. The Penguins should be able to return to their game one form in this one and the betting line is likely taking the lopsided game 2 score into account too much as well as the strong home record of the Lightning.
Prediction: Pittsburgh Penguins +120
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Tagged with: NHL Playoffs • pittsburgh penguins • Round 1 • Tampa Bay Lightning