Lightning at Blue Jackets 4/16/19 - NHL Picks & Predictions

Tampa has reached the point that they have to win the game. However, like most of the seasons the Lightning are playing great in the regular season, but once the heat is on and the Lightning start to face some adversity the team starts to have some issues. It almost seems that the Lightning are unable to really face the playoff pressure and what is really bad for the Lightning is the fact they are a team that has quite a bit of seasoned players on the roster.

The good news for the Lightning is they are getting Nikita Kucherov back from his one game suspension in this game. Kucherov led the Lightning in scoring in the regular season with 128 points and 87 assist. However, Steven Stamkos led the Lightning in goals with 45 goals on the year, but he definitely has quite a bit of aggression issues coming into this game after the late penalty in the third period to end the game on Sunday night. The Blue Jackets are looking to oust the top team in the NHL in this game here. The Blue Jackets have been playing with such force that the team has not really looked challenged at all on the playoffs. What else is really interesting is this is the first time in franchise history that the Blue Jackets have been able to get a 3-0 series lead and that can definitely help the Blue Jackets out when it comes to playing the Lightning here and the stat that is important and interesting is after getting a 3-0 lead most teams 97.9% win the series.

Artemi Panarin was the leader for the Blue Jackets in scoring in the regular season with 87 points, but he also led the team with 59 assist on the year. The Blue Jackets goal scorer was Cam Atkinson who was able to find the back of the net 41 times.