We have loved the action throughout this impressive NHL regular season and first round of the playoffs, but now we are entering the second round, with a spot in the Conference Finals up for grabs. We are sure to see the cracking playoffs continue in Round 2, and with the Lightning still alive, many high quality teams will be looking to stop them from winning the Stanley Cup for a third time in a row. But before we get to the Stanley Cup Final, teams must make it through the second round.
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Look below to find our free NHL picks for the two Round 2 games on today’s schedule!
Florida Panthers @ Tampa Bay Lightning – 7.00PM ET
The Tampa Bay Lightning are absolutely dominating this series with the Florida Panthers, and they now hold a 3-0 lead coming into this Game 4. The Lightning just need to win this game, in front of their home crowd, in order to advance into the Conference Finals. This series certainly hasn’t gone the way the Panthers thought it would, and a win here is essential.
Marko Nadin
The Florida Panthers had a historically good regular season, winning 122 points, the seventh most in NHL history. That seemed like they are finally ready for a deeper playoff run but the second round is probably where they will end up. The defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning is killing the Panthers so far in the series with a 3-0 lead. The Lightning have been so good that they held the best offensive team in the league to only one goal in each of the three games so far in the series, despite the fact that Florida scored 4.2 goals per game in the regular season.
The Panthers kept Game 3 close in the opening period when the score was 1-1 but from that point on, it was all Lightning who managed to win 5-1. It is hard to believe that the Panthers can be swept by any team, but what we saw so far in the series they simply cannot find a way to win against Tampa Bay. Tampa Bay has won 26 of the last 31 Conference Semifinals games, 20 of the last 28 playoff games as a favorite and 36 of the last 53 games played with no day off. Florida has won 41 of the last 57 games against Eastern Conference opponents, 19 of the last 26 road games and have lost 10 of the last 12 games as underdogs.
Marko’s NHL Pick: Tampa Bay Lightning (-122)
Tony Battalio
Florida has their backs against the wall in this one as they come into this game down 0-3. They are in a must win situation and they are only three periods away from having their fantastic season ended early for the second year in a row. They had a great regular season and are supposed to have home field advantage throughout the Stanley Cup playoffs, but it doesn’t look like it is going to last much longer.
The Tampa Bay Lightning are absolutely dominating this series as they currently lead 3-0 at the moment. They took a 3-0 lead on Sunday with another dominating win over the Florida Panthers. Tampa Bay had an above averaging regular season but they weren’t one of the top four teams in the league in my opinion. However, they haven’t looked unstoppable throughout the playoffs. As for the result of this game, I am going with the Tampa Bay Lightning to finish the sweep.
Tony’s NHL Pick: Tampa Bay Lightning (-122)
Jeffery Thomas
The Tampa Bay Lightning are now on the verge of eliminating the Florida Panthers for the second consecutive postseason following their 5-1 win on Sunday to take a commanding 3-0 lead. Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy is finding his groove at the perfect time, only allowing one goal in four straight games dating back to last round. This is after he let in at least three goals in the first six playoff games, so his turnaround has contributed to a lot of the team’s success.
Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky on the other hand has allowed nine goals this series. One good thing for Florida in Game 3 was that they finally scored their first powerplay goal of the playoffs and now are just 1/28 with the man advantage. With the level Vasilevskiy is playing at I don’t see a team left in the draw that can take down the Lightning and I see them wrapping things up here on Monday night at home against this Panthers team that just hasn’t looked like themselves all postseason.
Jeffery’s NHL Pick: Tampa Bay Lightning (-122)
Colorado Avalanche @ St. Louis Blues – 9.30PM ET
The Colorado Avalanche got a fairly comfortable win on the road in Game 3 against the St. Louis Blues. Now the Avalanche hold a 2-1 series lead, and with the Blues again playing at home, they will be looking to level this series up once again.
Marko Nadin
The St. Louis Blues managed to steal one road win and hand the Avalanche their first loss in this year’s Playoffs. But Colorado proved that they are the top favorite to win the Stanley Cup this year as they bounced back with a 5-2 road win in Game 3 to take a 2-1 lead in the series. That was the eighth Avalanche win in the last 10 games against the Blues and that series will continue tonight. The Blues are a good team which they proved in the opening road game against the Minnesota Wild, but they are simply not on the same level as Colorado. The Avalanche will win this one and get the series back to Colorado for one final punch.
Colorado has won 44 of the last 54 when their opponent scores 2 goals or less in their previous game, 19 of the last 26 when their opponent allows 5 goals or more in their previous game and 6 of the last 7 games against a team with a winning record. St. Louis has won 21 of the last 26 when their opponent allows 2 goals or less in their previous game, 10 of the last 14 after allowing 5 goals or more in their previous game and 9 of the last 12 games following a loss of 3 or more goals.
Marko’s NHL Pick: Colorado Avalanche (-166)
Tony Battalio
The Colorado Avalanche and St. Louis Blues are having a great second round series so far. The Avalanche lead 2-1 heading into Game 4 of this series. Colorado was the best team in the Western Conference throughout the regular season. They will be looking to get into the Western Conference Finals and set up a matchup with the winner of the Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames. They will look to take a 3-1 lead heading back home to Colorado for Game 5.
The St. Louis Blues are coming into this one down 1-2 in this series, needing a win at home to even it back up. They got a huge win in Game 2, but in Game 3 the Colorado Avalanche returned the favor with a blowout win of their own. The Blues will now be looking to bounce back in this one as they would love to avoid going back to Colorado down 1-3. As for the result of this one, that is exactly what I see happening as I have the St. Louis Blues getting the win.
Tony’s NHL Pick: St. Louis Blues (+138)
Jeffery Thomas
The St. Louis Blues are now back in the same position after three games as they were in the first round. That is down 1-2 and in that series they rallied back to win three straight over the Minnesota Wild. This Colorado Avalanche team however, is miles better than that Wild team and a repeat performance seems impossible.
Blues goalie Jordan Binnington was a huge boost to their team when he was inserted back into the net in the previous round and he had been playing phenomenally to start this series, but he will now be out which obviously hurts their chances. In comes goalie Ville Husso who is now tasked with stopping this Avs team that is 6-1 in the playoffs and a perfect 3-0 on the road. I don’t like St. Louis’ chances here and when they get back on the road for Denver they will be down in the series 1-3.
Jeffery’s NHL Pick: Colorado Avalanche (-166)
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*Odds and spreads correct at time of writing, courtesy of FanDuel.
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