NHL betting trends, odds and predictions for Monday, October 16th, 2017 from various handicappers and websites
TAMPA BAY (4-1-0-0, 8 pts.) at DETROIT (4-1-0-0, 8 pts.)
There are no Top Trends with records of significance that apply to this game.
Head-to-Head Series History
TAMPA BAY is 11-3 (+7.8 Units) against the spread versus DETROIT over the last 3 seasons
TAMPA BAY is 11-3-0 straight up against DETROIT over the last 3 seasons
6 of 11 games in this series have gone UNDER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons . (Under=+0.3 Units)
TAMPA BAY vs. DETROIT
Tampa Bay is 7-1 SU in its last 8 games
Tampa Bay is 8-16-1 SU in its last 25 games ,when playing on the road against Detroit
Detroit is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Detroit's last 5 games
NHL Playoffs
Lightning won their last seven games with Detroit; over is 3-1-1 in last five series games. Tampa Bay won its last three games in the Motor City, all by one goal- they’re 4-1 to start season (over 4-1), but lost 5-4 at Florida in their only road game. Red Wings are off a 3-1 road trip; they beat Minnesota 4-2 in their only home game so far. Over is 4-1 Detroit games so far this season.
Armadillosports.com
NHL Picks and Betting Tips
By Parker Michaels
Bangthebook.com
MORNING LINE REPORT
We ended up not having any plays yesterday but it was still an interesting night of game-watching in the NHL. Alex Tuch and Vadim Shipachyov were called up by Vegas and both scored their first NHL goal while former Bruin Malcolm Subban shut the door stopping 20 of 21 shots to earn his first NHL win.
The Buffalo Sabres picked up their first win of the season leaving just the Arizona Coyotes as the NHL’s lone winless team to begin the season. And the Los Angeles Kings remained undefeated in regulation with a 3-2 win over the tired looking Islanders. LA and Vegas now sit atop the Pacific division just like everyone predicted!
We’re almost two full weeks into the season and while it’s still far too early to begin making assumptions on who is for real and who has been fortunate thus far, the standings will begin to take shape over the next couple of weeks and we’ll be able to dig into this year’s stats a little deeper.
For now, we have just one lonely game on the schedule and of course there’s no line available yet. I think we might be able to find a play tonight, however, so read before to see what I’ll be looking at.
TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING @ DETROIT RED WINGS
Projected Goaltenders
Tampa Bay – Andrei Vasilevskiy/Peter Budaj (unknown)
Detroit – Jimmy Howard (probable)
Injury Report
Tampa Bay – no significant injuries
Detroit – DeKeyser (doubtful)
Tampa Bay completed a sweep on their early homestand to move to 4-1-0 with Saturday’s 2-1 win over St. Louis. This will be the front-end of a back-to-back as they’ll travel to New Jersey for Tuesday’s game so we’ll have to wait and see if it’s Vasilevskiy or Budaj in net tonight.
Nikita Kucherov is off to a fast start after scoring for the fifth straight game to open the season to go along with three assists and Steven Stamkos scored his first goal Saturday night. The Lightning have been getting balanced scoring from their top three lines and appear to be much deeper than last year with the addition of Chris Kunitz and the healthy return of Ryan Callahan providing a solid fourth line. Andrei Vasilevskiy doesn’t have the prettiest stat line to begin the season with a 3.20 goals-against-average and just a .911 save percentage but head coach Jon Cooper thinks he’s been their best player on the ice, making timely big saves when he’s needed most. Tampa Bay has won seven straight and nine of the last ten games versus Detroit, including both trips here last year.
Detroit is off to a surprising strong start after a successful 3-1-0 road trip and are now 4-1-0 to begin the season. We’ll see how real the hot start is this week as the Wings will be tested with games against Toronto and Washington after Tampa Bay tonight. The Wings started fast last season, as well, flying out to a 6-2-0 record before eventually missing the playoffs.
The Wings top-end talent has carried them thus far with youngsters Anthony Mantha, Martin Frk and veteran Henrik Zetterberg leading the team with three goals each while defenseman Mike Green looks refreshed with eight assists in five games, leading Detroit in scoring. Dylan Larkin has had a much better start to this season, as well, with a goal and five assists. Scoring hasn’t been an issue.
Jimmy Howard has been outstanding in net with a .955 save percentage and he’s had to be as the Wings have given up a large number of quality scoring chances.
Defenseman Danny DeKeyser missed Sunday’s practice and is expected to miss his third straight game with a lower body injury.
I’m not expecting to see any value on either side in this game but I think the Over will likely be worth a look if we can get a 5.5 without too much juice and I may make this my first Totals play of the year. Both teams have the offense humming early and while Vasilevskiy and Howard have been outstanding, the defenses are pretty loose on both sides. We’ll take a look at things once a line is available later this morning.
Tampa Bay at Detroit Betting Pick & Preview
By Adam Burke
Bangthebook.com
There is only one game on the NHL slate for tonight, as the Tampa Bay Lightning battle it out against the Detroit Red Wings. The Red Wings are playing just their second game at Little Caesars Arena, their new, shiny home in the stadium district in downtown Detroit. It seemed Shakespearian in nature that the Red Wings would leave Joe Louis Arena the same year that their consecutive playoff appearances streak would come to an end. No overnight line was posted on this game, but BetOnline has thrown out the first number to hit the board with the Bolts a -130 road favorite.
Tampa Bay is off to a strong 4-1 start, but it’s possible that we could be seeing a little bit of regression in the short-term. Tampa Bay is only +4 in goal differential and this is just the second road game for the Lightning. Detroit is off to a solid 4-1 start as well, with a 3-1 record out on the NHL highway and a 1-0 mark at home. The Red Wings are +6 in goal differential through their five games. With it being so early in the season, we don’t want to read too much into the small sample sizes, but it seems unlikely that Tampa Bay will keep scoring four goals per game.
One of the things that has helped the Lightning at the start of the season is that the core is mostly in tact from last year. Nikita Kucherov is tied atop the points column with Brayden Point. Point has three goals and five assists to Kucherov’s five goals and three assists. Point made a nice impact in his rookie season with 40 points in 68 games and now the 21-year-old has become a fixture in the top six and has been getting power play time as well. Alex Killorn and Steven Stamkos have identical 1-6-7 stat lines. Stamkos should start to get a few more goals here in the near future with just one red light on 21 shots. His 4.8 shooting percentage is well below his career average, so while others regress, he should start to get it going.
The Lightning have had some issues defending their own goal. Before holding St. Louis to one goal in a 2-1 win over the weekend, Tampa Bay had allowed 15 goals in four games. Tampa Bay has had a few injury concerns on the back end, with Slater Koekkoek only playing three games and with Jake Dotchin down a game so far. Dan Girardi is a good veteran presence, but a bad hockey player, and the Lightning have had bottom-pairing issues. Teams with good depth may have some success against them, especially in road games when Girardi can be exposed. Andrei Vasilevskiy has stopped 163 of the 179 shots that he has faced this season. He’s been the goaltender in all four games and has played all 300 minutes and 23 seconds. With a back-to-back in New Jersey tomorrow, we’ll see backup goaltender Peter Budaj get the nod in one of these two games.
The Detroit Red Wings are a pleasant surprise early in the year. Not much is expected from the Red Wings, who missed the playoffs for the first time in 25 seasons last year. Don’t tell them that, though. They are off to a 4-1 start and went 3-1 on a road trip to Ottawa, Dallas, Glendale, and Las Vegas after opening the season at home against Minnesota. The Red Wings make a brief stop home for this one and then hit the road for a division matchup against old friend Mike Babcock in Toronto on Wednesday. The fountain of youth has been tapped by Henrik Zetterberg, who has three goals and four assists in what could very well be his swan song season. Anthony Mantha has seven points in five games. The biggest development for the Winged Wheel is that Dylan Larkin has six points with a goal and five assists. Larkin’s sophomore slump with just 32 points in 80 games was a big hindrance to the team last season. He’s come back better and more motivated this year and looks the part.
As the season goes along, the Red Wings are going to give up quite a few goals. They’ve had a lot of goaltender injuries in recent seasons and just don’t have a strong group of defensemen. Mike Green has eight assists to lead the team in points, but the others on the back end have combined for just three assists. Danny DeKeyser is already battling injuries and Niklas Kronwall just returned to the lineup two games ago after recovering from a plethora of injuries last season. Jimmy Howard has been outstanding so far. Howard has stopped 107 out of 112 shots for a .955 SV%. He’s outplayed Petr Mrazek and will get the start here in this one for Detroit.
Pick: Tampa Bay Lightning
We’ll see where the rest of the market opens, but Tampa Bay looks to be priced a little bit short at -130. The Bolts are on the road for just the second time, but this is a team with very good depth up front. The lackluster play from Vasilevskiy so far is a bit of a concern, but Tampa Bay has enough firepower to compensate.