NHL Odds: Flames visit Lightning in Tampa Bay Thursday Night

The NHL’s top team welcomes the Calgary Flames to town this Thursday for a showdown between premier offensive forwards. There’s a lot to be expected from both teams and some great players are on show to demonstrate their prowess. Watch as Kucherov and Stamkos take on Calgary’s Johnny Hockey and Sean Monahan.

After quite a lot of hype, great things were expected of the Calgary Flames (22-16-4) this season. After making the playoffs with one of the youngest rosters in the league last year, Calgary was expected to build off of their 94-point 2016-17 campaign, and push deeper into the playoffs. They’re +3300 on the futures board to capture Lord Stanley’s Cup, but to date, sit out of a playoff spot. However they’re looking to change that and tonight would certainly be a great time to start. Calgary will be looking for their young stars to step up against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday and put themselves back into playoff contention.

With an absolutely storming start to the season, Tampa Bay (31-9-3) enters Thursday night’s contest with a comfortable lead in the Eastern Conference. They’ve amassed an incredible +53 goal differential and have treated bettors to 21.98 units on the puckline. Their success has been buttressed by the standout play of their dynamic offensive duo of Nikita Kucherov and Steven Stamkos. Kucherov leads the NHL in points (60), while Stamkos is tied at third (52). At +600 to win it all this year, there have been few surer things than the Lightning this season. Still, the Calgary Flames will be hoping to exploit some possible overconfidence on the part of Tampa Bay.

Offense vs Defense

The Calgary Flames’ offensive phenomenon, Johnny Gaudreau, will make his way to Florida to try to best the league’s highest scoring team. Currently on pace for 92 points, Gaudreau is looking to set a new career high offensively, while also leading the Flames to new heights in the postseason.

At the other end of the ice stands the best team in the NHL. Tampa Bay has dominated the league this season, losing only nine regulation games through 43 games played. Tampa has benefitted from a standout season from their goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy, who is making a case for the Hart and Vezina Trophies. See if the netminder can stifle the Flames’ gifted offense.

There will be offensive fireworks this Thursday, as the Tampa Bay Lightning welcome the Calgary Flames to town. Both teams feature dominant first lines, made up of some of the best offensive players in the NHL. The outcome of this game will come down to which team can match up better defensively.

The Flames will look to pull themselves closer to a playoff position on Thursday, but will need to perform an upset over the NHL’s top team. Tampa Bay has won two straight games, and will look to push that streak to three on home ice against a youthful Flames squad.

Nikita Kucherov and the Tampa Bay Lightning will look to take advantage of the 14th-ranked Calgary defense on Thursday, when the Flames head to Tampa. Calgary has struggled to keep the puck out of their net this season; that may cause them trouble against the league’s top scoring team. The puck drops at 730PM Eastern

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