The Tampa Bay Lightning will try to close out their second-round playoff series against the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday night.
The Bolts are up 3-1 in this best-of-seven series and NHL betting lines have them installed as slim -120 road favorites for Game 5 at PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Can Rod Brind'Amour and the Canes keep their Stanley Cup dreams alive with a win? We let you know what we think with our best free Lightning vs. Hurricanes picks and predictions for Tuesday, June 8.
Lightning vs Hurricanes game info
• Location: PNC Arena, Raleigh, NC
• Date: Tuesday, June 8, 2021
• Time: 6:30 p.m. ET
• TV: Sportsnet, NBCSN
Lightning vs Hurricanes odds
Odds via the Covers Line, an average comprised of odds from multiple sportsbooks.
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NHL Sharp Money and Line Movement Report
By Patrick EversonTampa Bay opened a modest -112 favorite at TwinSpires Sportsbook, got bet up to -128 and is -124 at 4 p.m. ET. The Lightning are attracting 60 percent of moneyline tickets and 78 percent of moneyline cash. "Hopefully, the Hurricanes can extend this series, because it's all Lightning money so far. The 'Canes will be a big need for us," TwinSpires trading analyst Zachary Lucas said. The total is stable at 5.5, with 72 percent of tickets/68 percent of money on the Over.
Check out the full line movement for this gameLightning vs Hurricanes series odds
Lightning: -1,250
Hurricanes: +700
Lightning vs Hurricanes betting preview
Key Injuries
Lightning: None.
Hurricanes: Nino Niederreiter RW (Questionable), Vincent Trochek C (Questionable).
Find our latest NHL injury reports.
Betting trend to know
The Under is 11-2-1 in the last 14 meetings between these division rivals. Find more NHL betting trends for Lightning vs. Hurricanes.
Moneyline pick
All of the games in this series have been close, with the first three contests all being decided by a single goal and the road team winning each time.
Game 4 was the first game decided by multiple goals and it was a bit of a wild one with the Lightning opening the scoring in the first period before the Hurricanes stormed back to take a 4-2 lead midway through the second. That was followed by four unanswered goals by the Bolts, which iced the game.
The big difference-maker in the last two games has been Tampa Bay's powerplay, which has gone 5 for 9 with the man-advantage. While the Bolts have a very good powerplay, that sort of efficiency simply isn't sustainable especially against a team like the Hurricanes, which had the third-best penalty kill percentage in the league during the regular season.
The Lightning are the defending Cup champions for good reason, they have a highly explosive offense, a strong defense, and one of the best goalies in the league in Andrei Vasilevskiy.
That said, the Hurricanes finished with the slightly better record during the regular season and were an analytics darling, dominating puck possession, excelling on special teams, and winning faceoffs at a much higher rate than Tampa Bay.
It was frankly a bit surprising to see the Canes drop two games in a row at home to begin this series. After all, they were virtually unbeatable at PNC Arena during the regular season, going 20-3-5, and Vasilevskiy didn't have quite as much success on the road.
Although the Tampa Bay netminder was incredible at home, going 18-2 with a 1.75 GAA and a save percentage of .936, he was more beatable in away contests posting a 13-8-1 record with a 2.63 GAA with a .916 save percentage.
With the Hurricanes facing elimination at home, look for them to bounce back with a big win and extend what has been a terrific series.
PREDICTION: ML Carolina (+100)
Over/Under pick
We saw a high-scoring Game 4 but that was due to a ridiculous second period, which saw both teams combine for a whopping eight goals on 21 shots. Nonetheless, when the final horn blew, both teams had totaled a meager 51 shots, so the flurry of goals seems like a big outlier.
For the most part, this series has been a low-scoring battle featuring some terrific goaltending and solid defensive play. Vasilevskiy is one of the best in the business and has been recently named a Vezina Trophy finalist for the fourth straight season.
The Canes feature some excellent netminding of their own, allowing just 2.39 goals per game during the regular season. Although Carolina goalie Petr Mrazek might be a bit shell-shocked after allowing six goals on 26 shots on Saturday, the Canes have the luxury of replacing him with rookie Alex Nedeljkovic, who might be even better.
Nedeljkovic went 15-5-3 with a 1.90 GAA and a .932 save percentage during the regular season and limited the Lightning to a pair of goals in each of the first two games of this series.
Keep in mind that even with 10 goals scored in Saturday's contest, these teams have gone 11-2-1 to the Under in their last 14 games head-to-head. Take the Under.
PREDICTION: Under 5.5 (-125)
Lightning vs Hurricanes betting card
- ML Carolina (+100)
- Under 5.5 (-125)
Picks made on 6/8/2021 at 10:15 a.m. ET
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