Monday night NHL action offers a very important game between two Eastern Conference contenders. The Tampa Bay Lighting are in second place in the conference with 41 points trying to run down the first place Pittsburgh Penguins with 42 points. The teams will face off tonight in the ‘Steel City’. Both teams are in very good form right now and are among the best offenses in the NHL. Despite their ‘offense first’ philosophies both teams also have solid goaltending–Ben Bishop will be between the pipes for Tampa Bay with Marc-Andre Fleury in goal for the Penguins.
Actually, this game isn’t *quite* as big as it could have been. Penguins franchise player Sidney Crosby is the latest to be stricken by mumps and is currently listed as ‘questionable’ for this game. Crosby missed Friday’s practice with what was described as ‘flu like symptoms’. He was back at Saturday’s team skate saying he felt fine but looking for all the world like he had the mumps, puffy cheeks and all. He’s missed the last two games and given the nature of his illness. At press time there is conflicting information about Crosby’s status for tonight but the most likely is that he’ll miss this game. The Penguins split the two games that Crosby has missed during his bout with mumps.
Tampa Bay is coming off a loss to the Washington Capitals on Saturday night but that could have been a classic ‘lookahead situation’ where they were more focused on this game than the task at hand. The Bolts have a ridiculous array of offensive playmakers and Ben Bishop has finally solidified the team’s goaltending. They’ll never be mistaken for the Nashville Predators in terms of their defensive focus but at least goaltending is no longer the liability that it has been for several years.
It’s easy to dismiss Pittsburgh due to Crosby’s absence but in our view that’s not a good idea. Pittsburgh has dominated Tampa in recent years going 6-0 against the Lightning since 2012 including 3-0 at home. The Penguins have been at their best against their strongest opponents this season with a record of 10-3 against opponents with winning records. Even without Crosby in the lineup this is still a vary talented team.
BET PITTSBURGH PENGUINS -120 OVER TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING
NHL Hockey Betting: Tampa Bay Lightning at Pittsburgh Penguins
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