The Nashville Predators will continue their four-game road trip with a visit to Tampa Bay to take on the reigning Eastern Conference Champion Lightning.
Tampa Bay is off to a slow start this season, as they are fourth in their division with 31 points. However, a team of their caliber need not worry, as there is no doubt they will start rolling come crunch time.
As terrible as the Predators have been this season, they are currently on a nice little hot streak. They have won four of their last five, including their last three in a row.
This will be Nashville's second trip to Tampa in the last month. They kept it close the previous time they faced off, but Tampa was able to thwart off the Preds in overtime.
Predators vs. Lightning Betting Odds
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Predators vs Lightning Match Details
Fixture: Nashville Predators @ Tampa Bay Lightning
Date & Time: Thursday, December 8, 7:00 p.m ET
Venue: Amalie Arena, Tampa, FL
Predators vs Lightning Best Picks
The Lightning won't waste one of Andrei Vasilevskiy's starts against the Predators. Brian Elliott will be between the pipes for Tampa tonight.
Elliott has bounced around the league and is a 16-year veteran. He had a couple of Vezina campaigns in his time in St. Louis, but that was eons ago. The man wants a ring, so he found a solid job in Florida, backing up one of the best tendies in the league.
Elliott has struggled in his last couple of starts, allowing twelve goals in his previous three starts. He was still able to pick up wins in all those games, as his team can score at an incredible rate.
All this is just to say the over is a great play in this game.
Over 6.5 Goals (-106)
Predators vs Lightning Prediction
While the Preds gave Tampa a scare the last time they played, and to provide Nashville with an even bigger edge, they are running Elliott out between the pipes. The Lightning seem to be playing their way into shape as they had a slow start to the season.
So while bettors can expect quite a few goals in this game, they can also count on Tampa scoring more than Nashville. This should be an easy win for the home team.
Lightning -1.5 (+132)
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