Columbus Blue Jackets vs Tampa Bay Lightning Betting Picks

Tampa Bay continued its torrid pace with a 2-1 win in a shootout against Columbus on Friday night. Nikita Kucherov scored the tying goal in the second period and added a shootout goal for the Lightning, who have won 14 of 15. Tampa Bay is 6-0 in its past six games against teams that scored two or fewer goals in their previous game, and the Lightning have won five straight, playing on no rest. Columbus has lost seven of nine Saturday games, and it has gone UNDER in five of eight and in two in a row, scoring a total of 2 goals in its past 2 games. The Lightning have allowed just 1.8 goals per game their past 10, and they are on a 5-0 UNDER run. The Lightning are 5-0-1 UNDER after allowing two or fewer goals in their previous game. Jonas Johansson is the likely starter, and he is 10-6-1 with a 2.73 goals-against average. Take the Lightning and the UNDER.

The Lightning gave up seven goals against the Blue Jackets at Columbus in a loss there last season, and the situation is not in Tampa Bay's favor as they play at Columbus today. Not only is this the Lightning's fourth game in six days, but they are playing without rest after losing 2-1 in overtime to the Red Wings at Detroit last night. Superstar Nikita Kucherov did not play against the Red Wings due to illness. He is questionable here. Tampa Bay also is not likely to have star goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy in the net since he played last night. The Lightning are not in a good place right now, having lost four of their five games to open the season. They have managed only three goals in their last two games, while ranking 29th defensively on the season. Columbus is 1-3, but that victory was an impressive 7-4 road win against Minnesota. The Blue Jackets should be highly motivated for this game as they will be celebrating their inaugural team for their 25th Anniversary season. Take the Blue Jackets.

Over the last five games, Columbus has two overtime losses along with a 4-1 win at Winnipeg as a +140 underdog. They also have wins this season as underdogs of +200 or higher against Colorado (6-4), Edmonton (6-1), and Carolina (5-4). Tampa Bay comes home from a long four-game road trip traveling to Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, and Seattle. They're 9-9 over the last 18 games losing six times, including losses as chalk of -175, -215, -165, and -155. Play Columbus.