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The Lightning have a tough time against the Devils’ sharpshooters
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The Lightning have a tough time against the Devils’ sharpshooters

Join Daily Faceoff’s Nick Martin as he backs the best NHL players available on Tuesday night.

Jack Hughes over 1.5 points: +160 (Sports Interaction, Playing to +150).

The Devils catch the Lightning in a favorable position on Tuesday in a row, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see one of the league’s fastest and most experienced offensive players take a hit in this matchup.

Andrei Vasilevskiy started last night’s game in Toronto and has started every game for Tampa this season. He was withdrawn midway through the second period, which might tempt Jon Cooper to use him today, but it still seems more likely that we’ll see Jonas Johansson in the starting lineup in this clash.

Johansson played with a GSAx of -8.9 last season and posted a .889 save percentage throughout his career at the NHL level.

I’m not convinced that the Lightning will be a true defensive juggernaut this season, and I still believe their lack of depth is keeping them from being true Cup favorites. This seems like a good spot to take advantage of and target the Devils’ “second” line of Hughes, Jesper Bratt and Paul Cotter as they should benefit from some winnable matchups.

The Devils’ power play is at 20.2% so far, but has appeared to be one of the more dangerous units in the league, and Hughes is the one who leads the team in 5-on-4 play.

Many people are predicting a 100-point season for Hughes this season, and his early play shouldn’t change anyone’s mind. He hasn’t been overly productive so far, but this will help us get better numbers to support a productive night in a place where New Jersey has a high projected total.

Cole Sillinger All-Time Goalscorer: +410 (Sports Interaction, Playing to +390)

Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason is looking to shake up his offensive units heading into this matchup and has promoted Cole Sillinger to the top spot alongside Sean Monahan and Kirill Marchenko.

Whether the move makes sense or not is debatable as by releasing Yegor Chinakhov from the top line, Evason is breaking up a unit that has been completely dominant this season. Monahan, Marchenko and Chinakhov have combined for 18 points in five games and posted an expected goals percentage of 79.6% in 59.9 minutes of even play.

However, considering how Monahan and Marchenko have played so far, Sillinger is a competent offensive player in an excellent role.

Sillinger will also skate on the Blue Jackets’ top power play unit, which has a 21.4% success rate this season.

The Leafs allowed just 13 goals in their first six games, the lowest number allowed in the Auston Matthews era. However, the Leafs have allowed 3.70 xGA/60, which is the sixth highest in the NHL.

The eye test shows us that they defended better than that number suggests, but it’s still hard to deny that Anthony Stolarz and his .938 Save% helped the Leafs’ defensive game look more dominant than it actually was , and Stolarz will be backing out tonight after playing against Tampa yesterday.

The Blue Jackets have a good chance to surprise in this matchup and achieve a reasonable team record. Given his new role, I think it makes sense to bet on one of these values, coming from Sillinger at a high number of +410.

Roman Josi over 3.5 shots on goal: +105 (sports interaction, games to -105)

The Predators remain the only NHL team with zero points this season, and even though it’s only their sixth game of the season, this matchup looks to be a must-win. In most game scripts we should see Josi playing big minutes and I’m counting on the Preds captain to perform well in that spot.

The Bruins have allowed 29.14 shots per 60 and 3.42 xGA/60 this season. Although they have a quality defensive core, their overall squad composition is unlikely to have an above-average contribution to the overall game.

However, the betting markets have not yet fully adjusted as opposing shooters still have above-average numbers in the game against Boston.

Josi had 11 attempts on goal last time out against Detroit, including nine unblocked attempts. He has averaged 21.19 shot attempts per 60 this season.

At +105, I see it making sense for Josi to have more than 3.5 shots on goal in this match. I would also like to note that I am betting on the Preds to win this game and I would play anything better than -130.

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