Simon Dalton presents his prediction for the NHL match.
Tampa Bay Lightning
A series of failures knocked Tampa out of the playoff zone. After four consecutive losses, they ended up in 5th place in the Atlantic Division. First and foremost, attention should be paid to the attack. Lightning players have not scored more than two goals since November 25. During the same period, the power play units converted only 2 out of 13 attempts.
Dallas Stars
Dallas goaltender Jake Oettinger rarely loses two consecutive matches. After an unsuccessful game with Calgary (4:7), he won 2 games, stopping 59 shots out of 60. Overall, Dallas is in the top 10 in defensive efficiency for the season, allowing an average of 2.8 goals per game.
Tampa Bay Lightning – Dallas Stars prediction
The rivals played last weekend. For Tampa overall and Andrei Vasilevsky in particular, this game turned into a real nightmare - the Stars crushed the Lightning with a score of 8:1. However, I don't think we should expect a similar scenario in the rematch. Tampa is well-coached and will try to play cleaner in defense. After losses with a margin of 3 goals or more, the Florida team played four consecutive games with a total less than that.
Dallas excels in penalty killing at an elite level, and I wouldn't expect Tampa's defense to falter at home. Let's take the total under.
