The Tampa Bay Lightning will try to tie the 2022 Stanley Cup Final when they face the Colorado Avalanche in Game 2 on Saturday night. The Lightning, seeking their third straight NHL championship, rallied from a two-goal deficit to force overtime in Wednesday night's Game 1. The Avalanche finished it off quickly, with Andre Burakovsky scoring 1:23 into the extra period to give host Colorado the 4-3 victory and the series lead.
The opening faceoff at Ball Arena in Denver is set for 8 p.m. ET. Colorado is the -150 favorite (risk $150 to win $100) on the money line in the latest Lightning vs. Avalanche odds from Caesars Sportsbook. Tampa Bay is a +130 underdog, and the over/under for total goals scored is set at six.
Before making any Lightning vs. Avalanche picks, you NEED to see the latest NHL predictions from the SportsLine's proven computer model.
The SportsLine Projection Model simulates each NHL game 10,000 times. It entered the 2022 Stanley Cup Final on a 23-18 run on its top-rated NHL side picks. Anybody who has followed it has seen profitable returns.
The model knows that the Avalanche came out flying after having eight days off after beating Edmonton in the Western Conference Final. They scored 22 goals in sweeping that series, and Nathan MacKinnon has 11 postseason goals. Gabriel Landeskog scored his ninth playoff goal Wednesday, and Artturi Lehkonen notched his seventh. The trio has combined for 23 assists. Colorado outshot the Lightning 38-23 and had 17 takeaways to Tampa Bay's four, and they are back at home trying to seize control of the series.
The model also knows Tampa Bay has arguably the best goaltender in the league in Andrei Vasilevskiy, who has a 2.36 goals-against average in the playoffs. He has been nearly impossible to beat following a playoff loss, with a Game 2 setback to the Rangers snapping a run of 17 consecutive wins following a postseason loss. Tampa Bay also has elite defenseman Victor Hedman (13 assists), sharpshooter Steven Stamkos (nine goals) and playmaker Nikita Kucherov (24 points). Ondrej Palat also has scored nine goals.
Now, the model has set its sights on Avalanche vs. Lightning. We can tell you it's leaning Over on the goal total, and it also says one side of the money line has ALL the value! You ABSOLUTELY need to see it before locking in any NHL picks of your own.
So who wins Avalanche vs. Lightning in the Game 2 of the 2022 Stanley Cup Final? And which side of the money line has ALL the value? ... Join SportsLine right now to find out which side of the Lightning vs. Avalanche money line you should be all over on Saturday, all from the model that has simulated this matchup 10,000 times!
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