The Columbus Blue Jackets and Tampa Bay Lightning meet in Round 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the second straight year. Game 1 is Tuesday at 3 p.m. ET at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. It’s the first of four NHL games on the day. Below, we look at the Blue Jackets-Lightning betting odds and lines and make our NHL picks and best bets.
Blue Jackets vs. Lightning: Projected starting goalies
Joonas Korpisalo vs. Andrei Vasilevskiy
Korpisalo had an interesting qualification round series against the Toronto Maple Leafs. The 26-year-old recorded shutout victories in Games 1 and 5, but he was pulled after allowing three goals on 15 shots in Game 3. He finished his first playoff series with a .956 save percentage and 1.45 goals against average.
Vasilevskiy greatly improved on last season’s playoff disappointment. He posted a .921 SV% and 2.29 GAA while going 2-1 in the round robin. He had a .856 SV% in last season’s first-round sweep by the Jackets.
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Blue Jackets vs. Lightning: Odds, picks and betting tips
Odds courtesy of BetMGM; access them at USA TODAY Sports for a full list. Odds last updated at 7:35 a.m. ET.
Prediction
Lightning 3, Blue Jackets 2
Moneyline (ML)
The LIGHTNING (-176) may be without C Steven Stamkos and D Victor Hedman in the series opener against the Blue Jackets (+150). I’m not expecting it to factor into the end result as head coach Jon Cooper’s crew avenges last season’s embarrassing first-round loss.
Vasilevskiy has started the postseason strong and needs to turn the page on last year’s playoff exit, for which he took a large share of the blame. Korpisalo was one of the stories of the qualification round, but things won’t get any easier for him as he goes from the Eastern Conference’s third-ranked offense of the Maple Leafs to the top-ranked Lightning.
Back the LIGHTNING (-175) as rightful heavy favorites in this Eastern Conference 2-7 matchup.
New to sports betting? A $10 bet on the Lightning to win in regulation or overtime would return a profit of $5.68.
Puck Line/Against the Spread (ATS)
The two teams met just once in the 2019-20 regular season after last year’s playoff series. The Lightning squeaked out a 2-1 overtime win with star RW Nikita Kucherov scoring both goals. The goaltending matchup featured backups Curtis McElhinney and Elvis Merzlikins.
While I like the Lightning to get some revenge and win this game, I’m expecting the defensive style of the Blue Jackets and the play of Korpisalo to keep it close for at least the first game of the series. Go to the alternate lines and take BLUE JACKETS +1.5 (-200) to lose by no more than 1 goal or win outright.
Over/Under (O/U)
Take the UNDER 5.5 (-134). Despite scoring 245 goals in 70 regular-season games, the Lightning scored just seven goals in three round-robin games while not at full health. The Blue Jackets played to the Under on Tuesday’s projected goal total in three of five games against the Maple Leafs.
Esten’s NHL betting record: 24-21
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