Florida Panthers vs Tampa Bay Lightning

Florida now has beaten the Lightning six of the past seven meetings after Thursday's 5-3 win to take a commanding 3-0 lead in the series and the game went OVER. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 26 shots and Brandon Montour had a goal and an assist for the Panthers, who have won seven in a row going back to the regular season. Bobrovsky has won his past five starts and Tampa Bay's goalie, Andrei Vasilevskiy, has lost his past five. The Panthers have won six first round games in a row and they currently are 6-0 against teams that allowed at least five goals their previous game. Florida is 5-1-1 OVER as a road favorite of -110 to -150 and 6-1-1 OVER overall as a favorite of -110 to -150. The Lightning have lost six of seven playing with one day of rest. Take the Panthers and the OVER as a Max Play.

Tampa Bay is in a must-win spot as the Lightning can't allow themselves to go down 3-0 against Florida, which went to the Stanley Cup Finals last season. The Lightning are hoping home ice will carry them through Game 3 and they have won 25 of 41 home games this season. Tampa Bay is 26-17 OVER its past 43 home games and it is 48-36 its past 84 playoff home contests. Florida won Game 2 in overtime when Carter Verhaeghe scored 2:59 into overtime. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 34 of 37 shots for the Lightning, who were outshot 37-23. Florida is in the usual letdown situation after winning two at home and Tampa Bay will have to come out firing on all cylinders and hopefully get an early lead to change the trajectory of the series. Take the Lightning, and bet this game to go OVER as a Max Play.

Carter Verhaeghe scored on a pass from Aleksander Barkov for the lead 58 seconds into the third period and Florida went on to win 3-2 in Game 1. Tampa Bay wasted a good effort by Andrei Vasilevskiy, who had 25 saves, and the Lightning was outshot 28-19. Vasilevskiy will be in net again with a 2.90 goals-against average this season and a 9.00 save percentage. The Lightning has an excellent opportunity to even the series as they owned the best power play in the NHL in the regular season, and Vasilevskiy has a ton of experience in playoff action, including Stanley Cup winners. Tampa Bay has plenty of offensive weapons, including Nikita Kucherov, who led the league with 144 points and he was held to one assist on Saturday. The Lightning averages 3.49 goals per game compared to 3.23 for the Panthers. Take the Lightning (Max Play), and take Game 2 to go OVER.