The Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers are set to play Game 5 of the best of 7 series on Monday. This is part of the first round series in the National Hockey League. The Florida Panthers lead the series 3-1, but the Lightning are coming off a Game 4 win on Saturday.
The Tampa Bay Lighting stayed alive with a 6-3 win on Saturday. The win came after three straight losses, including two on the road and one at home. The Lightning went 45-29-8 on the season, which was fourth in the Atlantic. The Lightning went 5-4-1 in their last 10 games.
For Florida, they finished the regular season with a 52-24-6 record to win the Atlantic Division. The Panthers went 6-3-1 in their final 10 games, and their final four on the season. Florida finished just behind New York for the top spot in the East.
The Florida Panthers are big favorites in this game. The Panthers are -185 at home over Tampa Bay. The total is listed at 6.5 goals.
Tampa Bay Lightning
The Tampa Bay Lightning are led by Nikota Kucheroc, Brayden Point and Steven Stamkos. Those three have been anchors of this talented squad. Kucherov has scored 44 goals and dished out 100 assists. Point was more balanced, with 46 goals and 44 assists. Finally, Stamkos scored 40 goals and dished out 41 assists.
In the 6-3 win on Saturday, Stamkos scored the first of the game. It was his fourth of the series. Hagel and Point each scored, and Tampa led 3-0 after one. Hagel and Stamkos finished the game with two goals each. The Lightning used 22 saves from Andrei Vasilevskiy to seal the home win and keep the series alive.
The goaltender went 30-20-2 on the season with a 2.90 goals against average. In the postseason so far, he has allowed 12 goals in four games.
Florida Panthers
For Florida, Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Reinhart scored the first two goals for the Panthers. They both have three in four games so far in the postseason. The third goal was from Oliver Ekman-Larsson, as it was his first of the postseason.
In the regular season, the Panthers scored 3.23 goals per game. They were the second best at shots on goal with nearly 34 per game. The defense for Florida was also elite, as they were tied for first, allowing 2.41 goals per game. The Panthers top scorers were Reinhart and Matthew Tkachuk. Reinhart had 94 points, while Tkachuk had 88.
The Panthers will turn back to Sergei Bobrovsky in this game. On the season he played 58 games, and won 36 of them. He has a goals against average of less than 2.4 per game. So far in four games, he has allowed 13 goals.
Florida Eliminates Tampa
The Tampa Bay Lightning do not want to go down easy. The Lightning are not going to go down easy, but in the end, this series comes to an end on Monday. Tampa Bay competes, but Florida wins the game.
When we make our final bet for this game, we are going to take the Florida Panthers -185 over the Tampa Bay Lightning. Enjoy the game and best of luck with all your National Hockey League betting!
