Tampa Bay Lightning at Montreal Canadiens 7/2/21 - NHL Picks & Predictions

Last Updated: 07/02/2021 at 9:47 AM ET

The Stanley Cup Finals head to Montreal Friday night for game 3 of the series. The Tampa Bay Lightning are up 2-0 in the series and will look to build on that here . The Lightning boasted a top 10 scoring offense throughout the season and have average 4 goals per game in this series. Nikita Kucherov has led the way for Tampa Bay with 2 goals thus far, while Brayden Point has added 3 assists.

Tampa Bay ranked 4th overall defensively this season allowing 2.45 goals per game but the defense has stepped up in the Cup allowing just 1 goal per game. Andrei Vasilevskiy has been the MVP for Tampa Bay posting a .967% save rating after stopping 60 of the 62 shots on goal.

Montreal looks to turn this series around at home after posting 2 goals in 120 minutes of game time through the first 2 games of the series. Ben Chiarot and Nick Suzuki have been the only offense thus far in the series for the Canadiens as each have scored 1 goal a piece in the series.

Carey Price is one of the biggest reasons the Canadiens are playin for a world title but has really struggled in this series giving up 8 total goals. Montreal has had no answer for the Lightning as Price has posted a .840% save rating in the series including a .815% in game 1 after allowing 5 goals on 27 shots.

The Tampa Bay Lightning have owned this series and won't let up in game 3. Tampa Bay is the better team and has owned this series and matchup as of late. Look for the defending champs to come into game 3 locked in looking to put a strangle hold on back to back titles. Final Score Prediction, Tampa Bay Lightning win 3-1.

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