Category: Hockey

Amalie Arena will be electric tonight when the Tampa Bay Lightning raise their Stanley Cup banner and open the season against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Pittsburgh will be without two of their key weapons, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, who are both sidelined with injuries and that is not good for a Penguins team that is 0-5 in their last 5 trips to Tampa. Tampa finished the regular season with a 21-7 record at home and are expected to have Andrei Vasilevskiy between the pipes, who was outstanding as usual last season. Can the Tampa Bay Lightning capture their third straight Stanley Cup victory? Absolutely and the quest starts tonight.
TONIGHT’S PICK: TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING

The Vegas Golden Knights might be down 2-0 to the Colorado Avalanche but this series is far from over. The Golden Knights proved they can hang with the Avs and outplayed them in Game 2. If not for a pretty weak slashing call on Reilly Smith in OT, which led to Mikko Rantanen finding the back of the net, this series could easily be knotted up. Tonight the series switches to T-Mobile Arena and there will be 18,000 raucous fans in attendance pulling for the home team so it will be electric. Vegas was 21-5-2 at home in the regular season and will have future HOF Marc-André Fleury between the pipes. Don’t fade the Golden Knights just yet.
TONIGHT’S PICK: VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS

The Buffalo Sabres are on an amazing winning streak. They have won one in a row. Tonight they will take their 4-12-0-2 road record to the Prudential Center to face the New Jersey Devils. After snapping their 18-game skid, the Sabres have won 2 of their last 3. Winning is contagious. The Sabres will be facing a Devils team that is just 4-12-1-2 at home and have lost 5 of their last 6. Buffalo is better than their record reflects. Take the Western New Yorkers.
TONIGHT’S PICK: BUFFALO SABRES

There is a must-see game in the NHL tonight when the Winnipeg Jets host the Toronto Maple Leafs. These are two of the best in the business and are so evenly matched it is ridiculous. Both teams have 22 wins on the season and Winnipeg is 10-5-0-1 at home, with Toronto posting a road record of 10-4-1-0. So how do you handicap this game? Flip a coin? No, you consider the home team. Winnipeg will be a dog in this one. They are 5-1 in their last 6 in this situation and have won 4 of their last 5. The last meeting between these two clubs was in Toronto on March 13th, with the Jets cruising to a 5-2 victory.
TONIGHT’S PICK: WINNIPEG JETS

The Columbus Blue Jackets are spiraling out of control. The Jackets have lost 4 straight and 7 of their last 10. They were most recently swept by the lowly Detroit Red Wings and now they have to travel to Amalie Arena to take on the Tampa Bay Lightning. Good luck. The Lightning are on a rare 2-game skid and fell to the Jackets in their last meeting, 5-2, on January 23rd so they will be extra motivated to put the screws to Columbus tonight. Tampa is, without a doubt, the best team in hockey. They are 24-8-1-1 on the season and have been deadly at home with a record of 13-2-0-0. Consider the Champs.
TONIGHT’S PICK: TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING

The Buffalo Sabres will try to stop the bleeding when they host the Philadelphia Flyers tonight at KeyBank Center. Buffalo has lost a franchise 17 straight games but they will eventually win and tonight could be that night. The Flyers have not been playing well. They did eke out a win on Saturday against the New York Rangers but prior to that they had lost 4 in a row and are just 3-7 in their last 10. Buffalo showed glimmers of hope in Saturday’s 3-2 loss to Boston and are expected to have Linus Ullmark between the pipes. Ullmark has a very respectable 2.49 GAA and a 0.918 SV%. The Sabres know they can beat the Bullies. They did so back on Jan 18th, 6-1, and the home team between these two clubs is 13-5 in their last 18 meetings. Buffalo is worth a shot.
TONIGHT’S PICK: BUFFALO SABRES

The Washington Capitals will host the New York Rangers today in a matinée at Capital One Arena. New York will be playing back-to-back games after losing a close one to Philadelphia yesterday so fatigue could be an issue. The Rangers have been a thorn in the side of the East leading Capitals, winning 3 of the 4 meetings this year, but they are catching a Washington team that is hot. The Capitals have won two straight, 9 of their last 10, and have been a force at home. They are 12-4-1-1 at Capital One and 7-2 in their last 9 against the Rangers in DC.
TODAY’S PICK: WASHINGTON CAPITALS