Tampa Bay Lightning vs Florida Panthers Betting Pick for tonight Puck Drops at 8:00 p.m. ET
From Doug and the Rundown here are todays best bets and tips for the casual sports bettor:
The offense in this Lightning-Panthers series has been electric (pun intended) with the return of Nikita Kucherov and Florida’s poor play in net. Both of those factors could change Monday, however.
Kucherov has been the spark plug (again, pun intended) for this forward corps, recording nine points in four playoff games after missing the entire regular season. The Russian winger sustained a knee injury in the last game and while he’s in the lineup, he could be less than 100%.
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The combined play of Panther goaltenders Sergei Bobrovsky and Chris Driedger has been so bad, they’re considering turning to rookie Spencer Knight in Game 5. It’s a calculated risk, but Knight is going to be a stud in this league eventually. With Andrei Vasilevskiy on the other end, it’s not insane to think this stays under the elevated number.
Pick: Under 6 (-109)*
DFS Value Play: MacKenzie Weegar ($5200)
Cleveland Indians @ Detroit Tigers – 7:10 p.m. ET
On paper, Detroit wins this pitching matchup: Spencer Turnbull has been great (2.88 ERA, 0.96 WHIP, 2.76 FIP) and Sam Hentges has been, um, not great (6.46 ERA, 2.09 WHIP, 7.18 FIP). That said, pitching matchups aren’t everything.
For starters (no pun intended), Turnbull has struggled against a chunk of the Indians’ lineup: Cesar Hernandez, Jose Ramirez and Harold Ramirez are a combined 12-for-27 with six RBI and a home run against him. If Cleveland can get him out of the game early, their real advantage begins: the Tigers rank last in the league with a 5.84 bullpen ERA while the Indians rank second with a 2.64.
It all depends on your confidence in Hentges to survive a turn or two through the order, but we’re confident enough that the Tribe can extend their season series lead here.
Pick: Indians +106*
DFS Value Play: Cesar Hernandez ($3900)
Parlay Play of the day:
Parlay
New York Islanders @ Pittsburgh Penguins – 7:00 p.m. ET
Every game but one has been decided by a single goal in this series, so let’s assume it happens again after the Islanders’ outlier 4-1 Game 4 victory. We can also assume it will be low-scoring, mainly because of New York – Ilya Sorokin has been brilliant in goal during this series (.944 SV%, 1.76 GAA) and NYI was a very poor road scoring team this year (2.00 goals per away game). Expect another grind here.
Pick: Islanders +1.5 and Under 5.5 Parlay (+130)*
Prop
Miami Heat @ Milwaukee Bucks – 7:40 p.m. ET
The Heat found a way to get to Giannis Antetokounmpo: make him self-conscious about his free-throw shooting. The Greek Freak is shooting 55.6% from the line against Miami this season, a number that was heightened when he went 6-of-12 in Game 1 with some 10-second violation antics. Giannis is averaging just 19 points in four games against the Heat this season, so fade him with confidence here.
Pick: Giannis Antetokounmpo Under 28.5 Points (-110)*
Bold Bet
Minnesota Wild @ Vegas Golden Knights – 10:30 p.m. ET
One of the reasons the Wild find themselves in a 3-1 hole in this series is that Kirill Kaprizov has largely been held in check – the super rookie has just one assist and eight shots so far. Minnesota needs a spark to stay alive. Who better to give it to them than their most exciting player, who just so happened to score in five straight games against VGK in the regular season?
Pick: Kirill Kaprizov to Score +210