The Montreal Canadiens (27-37-6), one of the league’s worst penalty killing teams, host the Tampa Bay Lightning (42-23-6) and their opportunistic power play offense at Bell Centre on Tuesday.
Montreal is playing a second successive game against Tampa Bay, The Lightning defeated the Canadiens 5-3 on Saturday, their third straight win against Montreal.
Brandon Hagel led Tampa Bay with three goals. Mike Hoffman (1G 1A) and Nick Suzuki (0G 2A) each had two points to lead Montreal. Brian Elliott got the win despite saving only 18 of 21 shots (.857%).
Tampa Bay is playing their first of four games on the road coming off a 5-2 loss against the Devils on Sunday, ending a run of three straight wins.
The Lightning committed only one penalty in the game, holding New Jersey without a power play goal. Alex Killorn and Nikita Kucherov both scored once for the Lightning. Andrei Vasilevskiy only had 34 saves on 38 shots against (.894%) in the loss.
FACING OFF
Tampa Bay is averaging 3.45 goals per game for the season, seventh in the NHL, and they are taking on a Canadiens team that is allowing 3.71 goals a game (29th).
Meanwhile, Montreal has found the net 2.77 times a game on average, 27th in the league, and the Lightning are allowing opponents to score 3.04 goals per game (13th).
Montreal averages fewer shots/game (27.4) than most teams in the league, ranking 30th, though the team’s 10.3% shooting percentage is 13th.
With an average of 32.1 attempts, Tampa Bay ranks 13th.Expect several power play opportunities for the Canadiens, as the Lightning are averaging 4.39 penalties per game, fifth-most in the NHL.
The visitors’ 11.58 penalty minutes a game ranks fourth-highest. The home team has been penalized 4.30 times a game (7th) for an average of 11.91 minutes (1st).
The Lightning will be seeking to add to their third-ranked power play percentage of 25.31% against the Canadiens, who are the league’s third-weakest penalty killing team (72.49%).
Montreal, meanwhile, has scored on only 16.67% of their power play opportunities (28th), which the home team will be aiming to improve on against Tampa Bay’s 16th-ranked 79.64% penalty killing rate.
TOP PERFORMERS:
With 100 points this season, third-most in the NHL, Kucherov is the top skater for the Lightning. He is among the league leaders with 72 assists (2nd) and has added 28 goals of his own. In the net, Vasilevskiy (31-18-4) is Tampa Bay’s top goaltender.
He has a 2.70 GAA and a .914% save percentage.Suzuki leads the Canadiens in scoring with 53 points. He has 21 goals and 32 assists in 70 games.
Sam Montembeault (13-14-3) has the best goals against average for Montreal at 3.36. He has a save percentage of .904%. Jake Allen (14-23-3) has played the most games in net for the Canadiens this season. He has a 3.56 GAA and a .892% save percentage.
HOME AND AWAY
Tampa Bay is 17-16-1 away from home this season. Montreal is looking to avoid a sixth consecutive loss at Bell Centre this season.
SportsTips’ NHL Pick:
TB Lightning -1.5 (-110)
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*Odds correct at time of publication, courtesy of BetMGM.
