.jpg "Lightning-at-Bruins-(NBCSN)")
The Tampa Bay Lightning conclude a four-game road trip on Wednesday night, as they visit the Boston Bruins in a game that can be seen on NBCSN. It is not a good spot for Tampa, as they will be playing with no rest, having played in Buffalo on Tuesday night. The Bruins will be rested, as they have not played since losing at home to Edmonton on Sunday. Boston has done very well in this series, winning five of the last six meetings.
At 7:30 p.m. ET, tune into NBCSN for live television coverage of this NHL game on Wednesday, November 29, 2017, at TD Garden.
We'll have NHL odds at BookMaker.eu available for this and every game on the NHL Wednesday schedule.
Odds Analysis
The Lightning looked like the best team in the NHL in winning 15 of their first 19 games but they went into Tuesday’s game in Buffalo having lost three of their last four. "We knew it was going to happen. We just didn’t know when," winger Alex Killorn said to the Tampa Bay Times. "A lot of us in here are veteran guys that have been in the league long enough to know you’re not going to keep up that pace for a whole season."
The question for Tampa is when their superstars will get going again. Steven Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov and Tyler Johnson are suddenly struggling to score. Kucherov had not scored in the last four games and Johnson has found it tough to find his way on the third line. Kucherov looked to be unstoppable early, with 17 goals, but he hasn’t found the net in the last four games, and Stamkos has just one assist in the last four games.
Tampa was 7-4 in their first 11 road games, with seven of the 11 going over the total. Tampa leads the league in scoring at 3.7 goals per game and they are 6th in goals against at 2.7 per contest.
The Bruins are coming off a poor effort on Sunday, as they were beaten 4-2 by Edmonton. It was the first start in goal for Tuukka Rask in almost two weeks and Rask said to Masslive.com that he is frustrated. He stopped 32 of 35 shots but still got the loss. "When they start to pile up and nothing seems to go your way, it's frustrating," Rask said. Rask is 3-8-2 this season with a 2.91 goals against average and a an .899 save percentage. Rask has gotten very little support, as the Bruins have scored two goals or less in nine of his 13 appearances. The Bruins have survived thanks to the play of Anton Khudobin who is 7-0-2 with a .932 save percentage.
Boston is just 6-6 at home this season, with six games going over and six going under. They are scoring 2.7 goals per game and giving up 3 per contest.
Special Teams
Tampa has the best power play in the league at just over 26% and they are 13th in penalty killing at just over 81%. The Bruins are just 16th in the league on the power play at 19.2%. They are 6th in penalty killing at just over 84%.
Key Stat
Boston has won five of the last six meetings in this series, with two of the last three going over the total. Boston has won 7 of the last 10 at home in this series but the games have been lower scoring in Boston, with six games going under, three going over, with one push.
Free NHL Picks
I wanted to look at the key statistic of how Tampa does in the second half of a back-to-back for this game. There isn’t much in terms of picking a side, as Tampa is 3-3 in their last six playing with no rest, but there is a huge trend on the total, as all six of those games went over the total. The Lightning are a potent offensive team and with that key trend in mind, I will take this game on Wednesday night over the total.
NHL Odds: Lightning 5, Bruins 3
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