Tampa Bay ended the regular season winning five of its last six games, including 6-4 over the Islanders on Friday when Steven Stamkos recorded a hat trick and the Lightning scored five times in the third period. Stamkos had 33 points in April and that was the most by any NHL player since 1995. Andrei Vasilevskiy has a 2.49 goals-against average and he has won his last four starts to finish with a 39-18-3-2 record. The Lightning will be going for their third straight Stanley Cup while Toronto hasn't won a first-round series since 2004. The Lightning have won their past five games as playoff underdogs and they are 10-4 their last 14 games overall playing with two days rest and they have won seven of 10 at Toronto. The UNDER is 5-1-2 in Tampa Bay's last eight games as playoff dogs and the Maple Leafs are 4-1 UNDER as playoff game favorites. Toronto goalie Jack Campbell has bounced from a midseason slump to finish with a 2.64 GAA, but Vasilevskiy still has the edge in playoff experience. This is a high posted total for two hot goalies especially in a playoff atmosphere. The Lightning allows only 2.78 goals per game. Take the Lightning and the UNDER.
This pick was released to clients on May 02, 2024 at 11:49AM ET.
Tampa Bay at Toronto
May 2, 2022
1 unit on Tampa Bay +110 (moneyline) (risk 1 to return 2.1)
Result:
LOSS
LOSS
1 unit on Game Total UNDER 6.5 -115 (risk 1 to return 1.87)
Result:
WIN
WIN
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