Tampa Bay Lightning (47-23-6) at Columbus Blue Jackets (37-24-17)
NHL Hockey: Monday, August 17, 2020 at 3:00 pm (Scotiabank Arena)
The Line: Columbus Blue Jackets +153 / Tampa Bay Lightning -167 --- Over/Under: 5 Click Here for the Latest Odds
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The Columbus Blue Jackets and Tampa Bay Lightning meet Monday in game four of the NHL East First Round at the Scotiabank Arena.
The Columbus Blue Jackets look for a needed victory here to even the series up at 2-2. The Columbus Blue Jackets are averaging 2.38 goals per game and are scoring on 7.7 percent of their power play opportunities. Pierre-Luc Dubois leads Columbus with four goals, Alexandre Texier has four assists and Zach Werenski has 20 shots on goal. Defensively, the Columbus Blue Jackets are allowing 2.13 goals per game and are killing 90 percent of their opponents power plays. Joonas Korpisalo has given up 12 goals on 273 shots faced and Elvis Merzlikins has allowed four goals on 74 shots.
The Tampa Bay Lightning can take a commanding 3-1 series lead with a victory here. The Tampa Bay Lightning are averaging 2.17 goals per game and are scoring on 16.7 percent of their power play opportunities. Brayden Point leads Tampa Bay with four goals, Nikita Kucherov has four assists and Victor Hedman has 22 shots on goal. Defensively, the Tampa Bay Lightning are allowing 2.5 goals per game and are killing 87 percent of their opponents power plays. Andrei Vasilevskiy has given up 14 goals on 191 shots faced.
The Lightning are 22-8 in their last 30 games following a win, 22-8 in their last 30 Monday games and 108-52 in their last 160 overall. The Blue Jackets are 8-1 in their last 9 Monday games, 5-2 in their last 7 games playing on 1 days rest and 7-16 in their last 23 overall. The under is 5-0-2 in Lightning last 7 overall. The under is 2-0-2 in Blue Jackets last 4 overall. The Lightning are 8-3 in the last 11 meetings in Columbus and 2-5 in the last 7 meetings.
This series has been quite competitive and despite getting fewer than double the amount of shots on goal in game three, the Blue Jackets still had their chances to win that game. The Blue Jackets have also still won five of the last eight meetings against the Lightning. With the Tampa Bay Lightning not exactly playing to their full potential yet, this is a chance for the Blue Jackets to make this series a bit more interesting. I'll take a chance with the big plus money in a crucial game four.
Randy’s Pick Columbus Blue Jackets +153
AUTHOR: Randy Chambers
Follow Randy Chambers on Twitter @WizardOf0dds