NHL Look Ahead; Thursday, December 30, 2021 

With the NHL coming off of its break in action due to a recent surge of positive COVID tests, every team has had the chance to rest their players and refocus on winning games. Today, we are going to highlight five matchups for later this week and discuss where we should be betting and why.  

The matchup we are looking at is Tampa Bay Lightning and the Florida Panthers.

Tampa Bay Lightning Travel to Florida to Face the Panthers

The Tampa Bay Lightning will travel to the FLA Live Arena on Thursday and take on the Florida Panthers in an in-state rivalry matchup. These teams have split the first two games against one another this season, but this game should be close. The offenses have been playing well, with Tampa scoring 3.2 goals per game while Florida is averaging 3.55 goals this season.

However, both of their previous games had a total of five goals in them, so the scoring should be lower than expected, especially coming off a bit of hiatus. Low scoring favors the road team to cover, so go with the Tampa Bay Lightning +1.5 as they should easily cover the spread in this matchup.

* All odds provided by Action247 Sportsbook and all odds subject to change.
**All views expressed are my own. My picks are my own and are not a guarantee, bet at your own risk.