Tipico Tips: Betting Tuesday's NHL slate

There are five games in the NHL Tuesday, including a rematch of last year’s Stanley Cup Finals between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Dallas Stars. Below you’ll see my favorite picks for the slate using Tipico Sportsbook. If you’re looking for more bets this season, check out the FTN Bet Tracker.

Florida Panthers -160 @ Chicago Blackhawks +130 — O/U 6.5

The Panthers were defeated by the Bay Lightning in their last game by a score of 5-3 and they enter Tuesday’s game in Chicago with two losses in their past three. They won four straight games before this recent slide, and two of those wins came against the Blackhawks. They outscored them 10-5 in the two-game set and have taken all four games against them this season.

Florida has scored 20 goals in four games against Chicago and the Blackhawks have struggled to keep the puck out of their net in the month of March. They’ve lost four straight games and six of their past seven, and they’ve coughed up at least four goals in each of those losses.

The Blackhawks have allowed the third-most shots and scoring chances at 5v5 per 60 minutes, according to Natural Stat Trick. On top of that, they’ve been held to three or fewer goals in five of their past seven games. Chicago ranks 27th in high-danger chances for at 5v5 per 60 minutes and Florida has allowed the third-fewest HDCA/60.

Prediction: 5-2, Florida
Best bet: Florida
Total: Over

Tampa Bay Lightning -160 @ Dallas Stars +130 — O/U 5.5

This is a pretty good line for the defending Stanley Cup champions even though they are on the road in Dallas. The Lightning have won four straight games and 13 of their past 16. They’ve taken care of the Stars pretty easily in their two games as they outscored them 10-0.

Andrei Vasilevskiy will be back between the pipes for Tampa Bay as he had the night off on Sunday. He enters this matchup with a 1.86 GAA and .933 SV%. He’s won 20 of his 24 starts and he has three shutouts on the season (two against Dallas). On top of Tampa Bay’s strong goaltending, the club leads the NHL in goals per game (3.68).

The Stars rank 19th in goals per game (2.82) and 24th since February 1st (2.55). They’re expected to be without Alexander Radulov who reaggravated his lower-body injury last week. Dallas has just four wins in its last 14 games and they’ve been held to two or fewer goals in eight of those contests.

Prediction: 3-1, Tampa Bay
Best bet: Tampa Bay
Total: Under 5.5

Others to consider: Colorado -1.5; DET @ NSH U 5.5

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