The Tampa Bay Lightning (34-16-2) head to face the Colorado Avalanche (28-19-4) at Ball Arena on Tuesday. Tampa Bay is coming off a 3-1 win over the Stars on Saturday. The Lightning committed five penalties in the game, though they held Dallas without a power play goal.
Anthony Cirelli led the Lightning with two goals. Andrei Vasilevskiy had a great performance with 28 saves (.965%) in the win. Colorado beat the Panthers 5-3 on Saturday. Nathan MacKinnon was the leading goal scorer for the Avalanche, netting twice. Alexandar Georgiev saved 42 of 45 shots in the win (.933%).
HEAD TO HEAD
The Lightning won the first meeting between the teams this season, a 5-0 victory on February 9. Brandon Hagel (2G 1A) and Alex Killorn (0G 3A) each had three points to lead Tampa Bay. Vasilevskiy saved 30 shots to earn the shutout win.
FACING OFF
Tampa Bay is averaging 3.58 goals per game for the season, fourth in the NHL, and they are taking on an Avalanche team that is allowing 2.76 goals a game (9th). Meanwhile, Colorado has found the net 3.00 times a game on average, 21st in the league, and the Lightning are allowing opponents to score 2.92 goals per game (14th).
Look for several power play opportunities for the Avalanche, as the Lightning are averaging 4.58 penalties per game, third-most in the NHL. The visitors’ 11.50 penalty minutes a game ranks fourth-highest. The home team has been penalized 3.76 times a game (17th) for an average of 8.69 minutes (17th).
The Lightning’s 26.55% power play percentage is the third-best in the league, while the Avalanche rank 10th with a conversion rate of 23.81%. When it comes to penalty killing, Tampa Bay has the league’s 15th-ranked PK% at 80.36%, while Colorado is 20th at 76.43%.
TOP PERFORMERS:
With 77 points this season, third-most in the NHL, Nikita Kucherov is the top skater for the Lightning. He leads the league with 57 assists and has added 20 goals of his own. In the net, Vasilevskiy (24-13-1) is Tampa Bay’s top goaltender. He has a 2.56 GAA and a .918% save percentage.
Mikko Rantanen and MacKinnon lead the Avalanche in scoring with 63 and 58 points, respectively. Rantanen has 34 goals (4th) and 29 assists in 51 games, while MacKinnon has 16 goals and 42 assists (10th) in 40 games.
Pavel Francouz (7-7-1) has the best goals against average for Colorado at 2.53. He has a save percentage of .919%. Georgiev (20-12-3) has played the most games in net for the Avalanche this season. He has a 2.67 GAA and a .917% save percentage.
HOME AND AWAY
Tampa Bay is 13-12-0 away from Amalie Arena this season. Colorado is 13-9-3 at Ball Arena this season.
SportsTips’ NHL Pick:
Colorado Avalanche (+105)
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*Odds correct at time of publication, courtesy of BetMGM.
