An evenly matched game with Tampa Bay getting healthy, yet they are a huge road dog. These teams had the same number of points (82) during the regular season, and have had to go with backup goalies for this series. Tampa Bay has Anton Stralman back from an injury, a key defensive cog, while goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy has filled in well for Ben Bishop, the latter who will be back soon. Tampa Bay is fifth in the NHL in goals allowed and seventh in penalty killing. Pittsburgh finally saw 21-year old goalie Matt Murray play like a rookie, trailing 4-0 the last game before getting pulled. Goalie Marc-Andre Fleury made seven saves in the third period Friday after replacing Murray, making his first appearance in seven weeks. The Penguins also lost defenseman Trevor Daley, who left the arena on crutches Friday. “(Daley) is a hard guy to replace," Coach Mike Sullivan said. "He plays a lot of minutes." That leaves Olli Maatta, benched earlier in the series, or Derrick Pouliot as the likely options to step in. Tampa Bay beat Fleury twice during the regular season, scoring a combined nine goals against him, and chasing him once, so no matter who is in net for Pittsburgh, the visitors have more than enough to steal a road win or keep it real close. Play Tampa Bay on the puckline.
This pick was released to clients on May 22, 2016 at 10:11AM ET.
NHL
Tampa Bay at Pittsburgh
May 22, 2016
8:15 PM Eastern
1 unit on Tampa Bay +1.5 goals -165 (puckline) (risk 1 to return 1.61)
Result:
WIN
WIN
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