Welcome to a Thursday edition of NHL Predictions! We are officially under a week until Christmas. While you are wrapping up the shopping, wrapping up the decorating, and wrapping up the wrapping (assuming you have started, but we do not judge here), we invite you to take a break and join us for some predictions. As always, we are going around the league and highlighting key games, matchups, and the ever-popular prop bets. Our predictions today take us to the state of Florida. The Tampa Bay Lightning are playing host to the St. Louis Blues.
NHL Predictions
St. Louis Blues vs. Tampa Bay Lightning
Time: 7:00 Eastern Time
TV: FanDuel Sports Network Midwest, FanDuel Sports Network Florida and Sun
Head-to-Head
The Blues and Lightning are playing for the second time this season. The two teams met in early November in St. Louis. The Blue Note were victorious, 3-2. The game is notable for a scary scene late in the first period. Blues forward Dylan Holloway was injured after blocking a shot and had to be taken to the hospital. Thankfully, Holloway returned to the lineup a few days later.
“It’s one of those things you don’t want to be a part of; I’ve been through one of them and thankfully he’s OK,” Blues captain Brayden Schenn said after the game. “I’m not the guy to give updates, but we know he’s doing OK. Just a freaky accident, freaky thing that happened. Glad that we got good news and he’ll be fine.”
Blues Playing the First of Two in Florida
The Blues are playing the first of back-to-back games. The Blue Note will play Thursday in Tampa Bay before heading to Sunrise to play the 2024 Stanley Cup Champions. This is also the first of a three-game road trip before the league takes a few days off for Christmas.
The Blues are coming off a tough loss at home on Tuesday. The team only managed 20 shots on goal and also had a rough night on the faceoff dot, with just 38.5% of faceoffs won. Of course, everyone is going to have a rough game every now and then. However, the Blues will need to buckle down if they want a successful road trip. Two of the three games on the road involve the Blues facing teams with winning records who are currently holding a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Furthermore, both games come just 24 hours apart.
Adversity if part of hockey. Thankfully, the Blues have a head coach in Jim Montgomery who is capable of leading the Blues through these next few days. If the Blue Note can pick up four of a possible six points on this road trip, it should be considered a successful trip.
Bolts Take Winning Streak into Thursday’s Game
The Lightning head into Thursday’s game on a three-game winning streak. Furthermore, the Bolts have scored 19 goals over these three games. This includes a six-point game by Nikita Kucherov.
Like the Blues, the Lightning have a series of important games before the Christmas break. After Thursday, the Lightning have a home-and-home series with their state rival Florida Panthers. The Lightning are currently in a wild card spot, but could find themselves in the top three in the Atlantic Division by the break. That would certainly be a nice Christmas gift for the Lightning faithful.
Prediction
The Bolts offence has really found a groove of late. The Blues will be facing a tall order on Thursday. While we believe it will be a close game, we are going to pick the Lightning in this one.
Lightning win 4-2.
Prop Bets
The over/under for the game is set at 5.5 goals. We are taking the over at six combined goals.
For prop bets, we are taking Brayden Point as an anytime goal-scorer for the Lightning. For the Blue Note, we suggest taking Jordan Kyrou as an anytime scorer. Kyrou has really flourished since Jim Montgomery took over behind the bench. We think that trend continues Thursday.
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Main Photo: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images
The post NHL Predictions: December 19th St. Louis Blues Vs. Tampa Bay Lightning appeared first on Last Word On Hockey.