NHL Best Bet: Thursday, May 19th

You’re not supposed to win back-to-back Stanley Cups and still be this hungry, right? Well, the Tampa Bay Lightning are proving that the hunger is still there and our resident NHL expert Ej Garr is expecting another upset in game 2 of this Sunshine State battle on the ice.

NHL Playoffs Best Bet May 19th

• Florida vs Tampa Bay: Lightning to Win (OT Included)

Odds as of 09:00 am May 19th, 2022. Odds may now differ.

Florida vs Tampa Bay Best Bet

May 20, 00:05 (UK time)

Well, as you read from my game 1 preview of this series, all of the value is with the Tampa Bay Lightning to advance to the Eastern Conference finals. The Florida Panthers will attempt to not lose the first  2 games of the series at home after their In-State rivals found a monster 4 – 1 win on Tuesday night. 

The Lightning is already ahead of the game having stolen home ice but let’s make no mistake the goal now is to turn it on and take full control of the series. I know I expected a lot more output from both teams in game 1 offering a play on the over so now I have to hope I didn’t miss my chance to offer up a nice underdog to folks as I normally tend to do. 

Luckily, we still have a semblance of value on the Ning to win game 2 as the line setters are showing their hands setting the Panthers as strong favourites to get back in the series. Florida is listed at 1.60 at most major outlets and that means there is still some meat on the bone if we go the other way and think road dog.

In direct opposition, the oddsmakers are showing a 2.40 on the Lightning almost expecting them to be content with the game 1 win and be going home with a split before games 3 and 4 in Tampa. 

Oh, in case you haven’t looked ahead yet the two games in Tampa will be played on back-to-back nights this coming Sunday and Monday. That will give the two teams a couple of nights to prepare but it will also be a frenzy of action where the home team might also be in line to wrap up the Panthers altogether.

Also, did you notice the total is only 6.5 tonight after the straight 7 that it was for game 1? After Tampa Bay only allowed one puck in their net the line setters now seem to think that this could be another low-scoring affair.

Well, let’s put it out there that I am the one calling for Tampa to take the win from this game and go home with a 2 – 0 lead. So, it is not out of my expectations that the Lightning could go home and say sayonara to the Cats in 4! A broom? Might we see a series sweep?

I was so impressed by the Lightning in game 1 and I knew that Jon Cooper would have his guys focused right away after taking out the Leafs in game 7 on the road. I said as much in y game 1 preview because Cooper knows how to get and keep his team motivated in the right moments. 

Florida getting past Washington didn’t impress a lot of folks even though Washington certainly had plenty of experienced players to provide a good fight. The thing with Florida to me is their offence may appear as the #1 team in the NHL but then you break this team down and know better than that. 

Bringing over Claude Giroux is all well and good, but this Panthers team either scores 5 goals or they don’t even show up. We saw it with the Washington series and why don’t you go look at the results and tell me I am wrong? Since their 5 – 2 win over Detroit back on April 21 in the regular season, the Panthers have been held to two goals or less 7 times in regulation time over their last 12 outings,

That’s a helluva lot of failure for a team expected to give a Tampa Bay defence fits. Yeah, how’d that work out for them in game 1? Shut down! When you open a series at home and score 1 damn goal in front of your rowdy, fired-up fans9 when that series is against the two-time champs who happen to be your biggest rival across the state? 

When I see it I’ll believe it, but until then I have the Ning to take the win in game 2 and then they can go home in a position to send the Cats packing in 4 games!

• Selection: Tampa Bay to Win (OT Incl)
• Best odds: 2.46 (Marathonbet)
• Stakes 4/10

Odds as of 09:00 am May 19th, 2022. Odds may now differ.

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