NHL Odds, Preview, Expert Pick & Prediction: Lightning vs. Rangers (April 5)

Lightning vs. Rangers Odds

Whenever the Tampa Bay Lightning and New York Rangers get together, the storyline is always about the goaltending matchup, which features Andrei Vasilevskiy for Tampa Bay and Igor Shesterkin for New York.

Now that both of these teams have clinched sports in the playoffs and don't have much control over their seeding, there shouldn't be a ton of urgency from either side in regard to scoring goals.

Of course, they're both going to try to win the game, but there won't be that sense of desperation that you have for most teams this time of year as we wrap up the regular season and prepare for the playoffs.

Tampa Bay Lightning

The Lightning have played in a plethora of low-scoring games lately as five out of their last six contests and all gone under. Vasilevskiy has been absolutely outstanding in his last four starts, skating to a 3-1-0 record in that span while boasting a 0.75 goals against average and a .978 save percentage.

Those numbers are absurd. He has also had two shutouts in that four-game span. Vasilevskiy is heating up at the right time.

In their last five games, Tampa has only allowed 10 goals against and is averaging just 2.97 goals against per game on the season.

The Bolts have been looking good offensively in that same span, tallying 17 goals in those five games, but they always seem to struggle when they play in Madison Square Garden. Tampa is 1-5 in its last six trips to the world's most famous arena and the under has hit in their la four straight games against Eastern Conference opponents.

Tampa is a brick wall defensively right now, and is going to be extra hard against this Rangers group of forwards.

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New York Rangers

The Rangers are definitely one of the most talented offensive teams in the NHL, but just like the Lightning, their goalie has been on absolute fire lately.

Shesterkin always seems to take his game to another level when he plays against Vasilevskiy, but his game has gone to another level lately as is. In his last seven starts, he is 5-2-0 with a 1.73 goals against average as well as a .946 save percentage. He has definitely looked like the guy we all saw last year who won the Vezina trophy.

The Rangers are the fourth-best defensive team in the NHL, allowing just 2.66 goals against per game, and they have only allowed 12 goals against in their previous five games.

New York has had a couple of days to rest and that has seemed to help the under this season as it is 4-1 in the last five games playing on two days rest.

Shesterkin has been at his absolute best and it is hard to picture Tampa putting up more than three goals on them at MSG.

Lightning vs. Rangers Pick

The under is definitely a trend when these two teams meet as it has hit seven straight times when the Lightning and Rangers get together.

Vasilevskiy against Shesterkin is always a fun duel, assuming that these two will get the start for their respective teams in this game.

Neither team has much to play for right now since they're both in the postseason already.

I'm keeping this one simple and sticking with the trend, give me the under.

Pick: Under 6.5 (Bet to 6)

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