It hasn't been the brightest start to the New Year for me when it comes to plays on the ice. It has actually been a struggle in a few areas outside of the NBA, but that's okay we can turn it around. And, honestly, you can be the beneficiary of the losses because if I'm cold, you can fade me. If I'm hot, you can follow me. Pretty simple options for you as you make your decisions. Right now, I am a bit cold, but I think I'll heat up starting with this game between the Bruins and the Lightning.
Boston comes into this game with a decent record, but nothing to get overly excited about. They are just 20-18-5 for the season and not playing great hockey. The Bruins tend to struggle a bit on the road as well where they have a below .500 record at 8-11-2. Lately they've struggled pretty significantly, losing four straight games. However, if you are looking, searching, trying hard to find some sort of success, you can look at the fact that they put up four goals in back-to-back games and lost their most recent one in overtime. Is this just a bad stretch for them and are they coming out of it, or are they going to keep playing poorly here. They face one of the better offensive teams in the game, and I think it will be a problem if this ends up being a shootout. If they can make it a defensive battle, they at least have a better chance of making some progress. For the season, the Bruins have only scored 2.58 goals per game and are allowing 3.14 goals against per game. I'm not sure who will be in the net, but this needs to be a team effort to stop this offense.
Nov 7, 2024; Tampa, Florida, USA; Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Emil Lilleberg (78) passes the puck against the Philadelphia Flyers during the second period at Amalie Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images
The Tampa Bay Lightning are having a better year than the Bruins and sit with a 21-15-2 record. They also tend to play better at home with more than half of their wins coming here and a 12-6-1 record. Like the Bruins, though, they are not playing very good hockey at the moment. They've lost four straight games and have only scored a total of five goals over those games. They are returning from a three-game road trip, all on the West Coast, and lost every game after scoring just one goal in each. That seems a bit odd coming from a team that is averaging 3.68 goals per game this season. I am expecting them to play a bit better upon returning, but I can't say they are going to flip some sort of switch and automatically dominate this game.
This is the first game between the two squads this year, so we can't glean much information from any previous matchup. Interestingly enough, they both allow and shoot about the same number of shots each game. If we assume that the averages will take place here, we should probably consider that the Lightning will win. I think the Bruins are the right side here - this isn't a safe play, this is a riskier one. My thought is that the both are in bad form, but the Bruins are slightly better right now, at least they are scoring goals. I'll take the Bruins, but also realize this is a spot that I could kick myself for tomorrow morning.
