St. Louis Blues vs Tampa Bay Lightning: Predictions and Odds

Where: Amalie Arena – Tampa, FL.

When: Wednesday, November 27, 7PM EST

How (TV/Radio): Fox Sports Midwest, SunS| WFAN

St. Louis Blues (Away)

Head Coach: Craig Berube{All-Time 127-82-40 STL, PHI}

The defending Stanley Cup champions take on the team favored to win the Cup at the start of the year.

Having already defeated them once earlier in the month, can the Blues overcome a Tampa Bay team that is on a winning streak and seemingly getting stronger with each passing game?

Offense

Pros:

The St. Louis Blues, although not by many, has taken more shots this season than the Tampa Bay Lightning.

They have taken 66 more shots than Tampa Bay to be exact.

The Blues have gone 7-2-3 on the road so far this season – one of the best road records in the NHL.

Cons:

No Vladimir Tarasenko or Alex Steen heading into Wednesday night. Both players are out with significant injuries.

Unfortunately for the team, St. Louis ranks lower than the Tampa Bay Lightning in every major offensive statistic at the time of writing.

Defense

Pros:

Defensively, much more sound than the Lightning. St. Louis has allowed the sixth-fewest shots against this season and has the sixth-highest save percentage.

The Blues average far fewer penalty minutes per game than their opponents.

St. Louis has the eighth-lowest average with 7.2 minutes per game.

Tampa ranks 29th in the league, taking, on average, over 11 minutes per game.

St. Louis kills penalties better than Tampa Bay.

The Blues have the 12th-best penalty kill in the league with a kill percentage of 83.10 percent.

The Blues have scored two short-handed goals this season compared to Tampa Bay’s zero.

Cons:

Puck possession. The St. Louis Blues may get outclassed by the Bolts in the faceoff circle, keeping them on their defensive heels more than they’d like in this matchup.

The team has lost two games in a row.

Goaltending

On of St. Louis’ MVPs of last season, Jordan Binnington, will get the nod in net for the St. Louis Blues.

So far this season Binnington has put together a record of 11-4-4, a goals against average of 2.23, and a save percentage of .926. He has one shutout.

Head Coach: Jon Cooper{All-Time 317-166-46}

After a very slow and surprisingly poor start to this season, the Tampa Bay Lightning seem to have the pieces back in the right order.

Sitting fourth in the Atlantic division, the Bolts have won three games in a row and have gone 7-3-0 in their last ten games.

Offense

Pros:

The injury earlier in the season to last season’s Art Ross winner Nikita Kucherov was, luckily nothing serious. He sits at 21 points in 20 games.

Tampa has climbed up to become the 12th-highest-scoring team in the NHL with a combined 74 goals – 54 of them at even strength.

The Bolts currently sit in second place with a 31.8 percent power play. This is substantially better than St. Louis’ 23.8 percent.

Cons:

Team captain and scoring superstar Steven Stamkos will miss the game due to injury.

Defense

Pros:

The Tampa Bay Lightning have allowed fewer shots against this season despite being the weaker defensive team on paper.

The gamble of offseason acquisition Kevin Shattenkirk is paying off as he currently has 17 points in 21 games and is plus-8.

Cons

The Bolts rank 29th-worst in the league when it comes to average shots allowed per game. Tampa Bay allows 33.6 shots against per game.

Goaltending

Last season’s Vezina Trophy winner, Andrei Vasilevskiy, is expected to be in the crease for the Tampa Bay Lightning Wednesday night.

Vasilevskiy has secured a winning record over the past few weeks, sitting at 8-6-0.

His goals-against average sits at 2.88 and he has a .908 save percentage. He has yet to register a shutout this season.

These two teams last faced each other only one week ago.

On November 19. The defending Cup champions, St. Louis, defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning with a final score of 3-1.

Is this the 2020 Stanley Cup final we’re looking at?

The Tampa Bay Lightning were pegged by oddsmakers as the odds-on favorites to win it all this year.

That bet seemed to be in jeopardy after a hellacious start to the season for the Bolts.

However, they’ve turned things around and look more like contenders.

Can the defending Cup champs defeat the team that was favored to win it all?

Questions to Answer

Will the St. Louis Blues be able to snap a two-game losing streak against a surging Tampa Bay team while also suffering from injury?

Will the Tampa Bay Lightning be able to extend their three-game winning streak to four and keep their climb to the top going?

Could this be a preview of the best two teams in the league?

How will sophomore sensation goalie Jordan Binnington fare against last year’s Vezina winner Andre Vasilevskiy?

St. Louis Blues Injury Report

D Robert Bortuzzo – OUT (suspension)

F Alex Steen – DL (ankle)

F Vladimir Tarasenko – DL (shoulder)

F Sammy Blais – DL (undisclosed)

F Erik Foley – IR/NR (concussion)

Tampa Bay Lightning Injury Report

F Steven Stamkos – OUT (lower-body)

D Erik Cernak – OUT (suspension)

The odds will be updated as they are made available.

St. Louis Blues vs Tampa Bay Lightning – Game Odds

The latest odds for the Blues vs Lightning game are provided by bet365 NJ, DraftKings Sportsbook, and SugarHouse.

Good luck!

Moneyline