The following are the NHL betting odds for tonight’s Tampa Bay Lightning at Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena for fans who bet on hockey at SBG online sportsbook:
Tampa Bay Lightning +1½ (-210) 5½ (-125) +140
Pittsburgh Penguins -1½ (+175) 5½ (+105) -160
The Lightning is coming off a 4-3 overtime win over the Hurricanes on Wednesday. TB has won four of the last five games. Victor Hedman scored two goals, assisted on both occasions by Nikita Kucherov – who scored a goal of his own, as did Tyler Johnson. Kucherov has recorded three or more points in three of the last four games, becoming the first Lightning player to record 12 points in a four-game period since Vincent Lecavalier in 2007. Andrei Vasilevskiy had 28 saves. In spite of the win, TB was outshot 18-4 in the first period and 24-12 entering the third. There is a sports cliché about “winning ugly,” and the Lightning won so ugly that Hedman apologized “to our fans for the performance.” Tampa Bay is 7-1-2 in the last 10 games and is three points behind the Toronto Maple Leafs for the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference. For fans who bet on hockey, the Lightning is 5-1 against the NHL betting spread in the last six games when playing on the road against the Pens and 3-10 SU in the last 13 games when playing on the road against Pitt. The total has gone over in six of Tampa Bay’s last seven games when playing against the Pens.
The Penguins are coming off a 1-4 loss to Chicago on Wednesday. The Pens have lost three of the last five games. Scott Wilson scored for Pitt, who lost 3-2 at the Dallas Stars the previous night. Marc-Andre Fleury had 25 saves. Also on Wednesday, the Pens acquired Frank Corrado from the Maple Leafs in exchange for Eric Fehr, Steven Oleksy and a 2017 fourth round pick, and assigned him to their Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins American Hockey League affiliates. On that same day, the Penguins acquired Mark Streit from the Lightning in exchange for a fourth-round pick in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft. These transactions, along with the acquisition of Ron Hainsey last week, are intended to give Pitt’s defense some much needed depth and make up for the absences of Trevor Daley, Olli Maatta, and Kris Letang. Streit is a 39 year old blueliner who has played in 11 seasons and posted 428 points in 765 career games with Montreal, NY Islanders, and Philadelphia. Corrado is 23 year old defenseman who was claimed on waivers at the start of the 2015-16 season by Toronto, with which he played 39 games, but has appeared in only two games with the Leafs this season. For fans who bet on hockey, the Pens are 1-5 against the NHL betting spread in the last six games when playing at home against the Lightning and 10-3 SU in the last 13 games when playing at home against TB.