NY RANGERS at TAMPA BAY
GAME 4 – EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS
8 PM EST ON ESPN
LINE: LIGHTNING -180 / -1.5 GOALS +150
TOTAL: 5.5
Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals takes place in Tampa Bay tonight with the Lightning down 2 games to 1 in their best of 7 series against the NY Rangers. Tampa Bay was staring death in the face in Game 3 as they were down 2-0 after back-to-back power play goals by New York but as they have done so often over this run they are on, where they have won 10 straight series, they overcame adversity and somehow found a way to win.
Tampa Bay may be down 2-1 in this series, but they have out-shot the Rangers by a wide margin. In Game 3, they outshot New York 52-30. In game 2 they outshot New York 31-28 and in game 1 they outshot New York 39-34.
That is 122 shots on goal in 3 games as the Rangers have been relying on the heroics of goaltender Igor Shesterkin to keep them in games. In theory, it is not a bad strategy because he is one of the best goaltenders in the world but sooner or later you must believe this is going to catch up to the Rangers.
Tampa Bay is also a team that is extremely hard to kill. They just will not go away, and nothing seems to fluster them. They have been down in series, they have played Game 7’s on the road and at home, they have played elimination games on the road, they have basically seen and done everything a team can see and do over the past 10 playoff series.
Nothing is new to them. However, this is all new to the NY Rangers and let’s be honest, if the Rangers don’t get Power Play goals, they have a hard time winning games. Tampa Bay must stay out of the penalty box and if they do that, this is a series they can win.
Right now, Tampa Bay is down 2-1, without having home ice advantage in this series and they are only +120 to win the series. This shows us that the oddsmakers have very little confidence in the Rangers advancing to the Stanley Cup Finals.
Also, the Rangers have played a lot of hockey over this playoff season as both their series in Rounds 1 and 2 went the maximum 7 games. We feel they might begin to wear down a little bit.
So with all this said, we are going to take Tampa Bay +120 to win the series and we are going to take Tampa Bay -180 in Game 4.
TakingVegas.com 1* Free NHL Picks. Tampa Bay +120 Series / Tampa Bay -180 Game 4
