Tampa Bay Lightning at Carolina Hurricanes Betting Preview

It’s Game 2 of the Central Division final round as the Carolina Hurricanes host the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night. Tampa Bay stormed into Carolina in Game 1 and came away with a 2-1 win to take a 1-0 series lead.

The Lightning are the defending Stanley Cup champions, but they did not get off to a great start in 2021. Tampa Bay entered the playoffs as the number three seed but upset the Florida Panthers in Round 1.

Carolina won the Central Division this season, and they have been a popular Stanley Cup title pick this season. The Hurricanes had some trouble with Nashville in the first round and are in trouble already in this series.

The Carolina Hurricanes are -112 on the money line in this matchup with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Lightning Have No Holes

Now that the Tampa Bay Lightning are back to full strength, there just aren’t many holes on this roster. Tampa Bay has been dominating most playoff games, and they are able to win games with a variety of styles.

Nikita Kucherov has three goals and nine assists for the Lightning in the playoffs, and he has really sparked the team on offense. Center Brayden Point has scored a team-high five goals, but the Lightning are tough to stop since they have so many scoring options.

Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy allowed just one goal in the win on Sunday night, and he has been great so far in the playoffs. Vasilevskiy has plenty of help from his defense, but he can take over a game.

Carolina Great on Special Teams

The Carolina Hurricanes killed off 85 percent of their penalties during the regular season and scored on 26 percent of their power-play chances. Both of these numbers were top-three in the NHL, and special teams need to lead the way in this series.

Sebastian Aho has scored five goals so far in these playoffs, and the Hurricanes are hard to beat when he gets going on offense. Carolina is a team that wants to play fast, but they have not been as explosive in the playoffs as they were this season.

Rookie goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic has been impressive for Carolina all season long, but things are starting to heat up in the playoffs. Nedeljkovic has stopped 93 percent of shots face in the postseason, but the Hurricanes might need him to steal a game soon.

Tampa Bay Takes Commanding Lead

Goals were hard to come by in the first game of this series, but don’t expect that to be a trend as the series moves along. These teams are loaded with offensive talent, and at some point, the offenses will break through.

Carolina wants to speed up the tempo on Tuesday night, but that’s just so hard to do against the Lightning. Tampa Bay is the defending Stanley Cup champion for a reason, and they are starting to hit their stride once again.

The Hurricanes will look to use the energy from the home crowd on Tuesday night, but it takes more than that to beat the Lightning. Bet the Tampa Bay Lightning money line as they steal both games in Carolina and take a commanding 2-0 series lead.

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