Lightning vs. Canadiens Odds
| Lightning Odds | -137 |
| Canadiens Odds | +114 |
| Over / Under | 6.5 -134 / +110 |
The Montreal Canadiens host the Tampa Bay Lightning in an Atlantic Division tilt on Tuesday evening. Tampa Bay has fared well in this matchup over the past few seasons, winning six of the past eight meetings.
Will the Lightning take care of business once again, or can Montreal defend its home ice?
Here's a look at the latest odds as well as my Lightning vs. Canadiens prediction and betting pick.
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Tampa Bay Lightning
It's been a tough start to the campaign for the Bolts, who now own a 5-3-4 record, without goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy. It certainly won't help that this club enters this contest on the second half of a road back-to-back, so we may see some tired legs.
A tired team in front of Matt Tomkins, who is expected to start between the pipes, is not an ideal situation for Tampa Bay.
Tomkins has struggled in his first NHL stint, going 0-2 with a .891 SV% and 3.62 GAA through two starts.
What's more concerning about those numbers is that those two losses came against Columbus and Ottawa. Out of the 66 goaltenders to play at least two games this season, Tomkins ranks 65th in goals saved above expected per 60 minutes at 5-on-5.
Not that Tomkins has been any good, but the team in front of him has also been bad defensively. At 5-on-5, the Lightning rank 26th in the league in expected goals against per 60 minutes.
Montreal Canadiens
While the Habs should fare well offensively in this matchup, we're going to target a specific player to find the back of the net: Josh Anderson.
Anderson has been extremely snakebitten thus far, posting just one assist and zero goals through 11 games.
With that said, he has produced 0.94 expected goals per 60 minutes at 5-on-5 compared to his zero actual goals scored, which is the largest differential in tonight's lineup.
He should get some opportunities this game skating on the third line alongside Alex Newhook and Christian Dvorak, two guys who are better at facilitating than they are at scoring.
Anderson also skates with the first power play unit, which adds to the likelihood that he finally finds the back of the net.
Lightning vs. Canadiens
Betting Pick & Prediction
Anderson has scored five times through 14 games against the Lightning, and four of those five goals came against either Ben Bishop (insert the STAR WARS meme "that is not a name I have heard in a long time") or Andrei Vasilevskiy.
If Anderson can score on those two guys, then he can surely find the back of the net against Tomkins, who has arguably been the worst netminder in hockey this year. Even if Tomkins finds some success, we can't trust the state of this current Bolts blue line, which has been terrible thus far.
Anderson will find the score sheet sooner rather than later, and this is a good matchup for him to get the monkey off his back.
Pick: Josh Anderson Anytime Goalscorer (+300 | Play down to +275)
