Frank LorenzoRight before the Olympic break, the Eastern Conference will have an interesting matchup this Saturday night as the Detroit Red Wings visit the Tampa Bay Lighting at 7 PM ET at Tampa Bay Times Forum.
Tampa Bay is second in the Atlantic Division with 69 points, but they have lost two in a row; Detroit is fifth in the division with just five points less than the Red Wings.
“The last week and a half (has been tough),” Lighting coach Jon Cooper said. “I don’t mind where we are in the standings. We kind of built a bulge in the standings, point-wise, and now we’ve lost some of it. But in saying that, I’d rather be where we are right now than where some other teams are.”
Detroit has won two in a row and three of the last four with victories over Washington, Vancouver and Florida.
“We’re gaining some confidence here and putting a good stretch together,” Detroit veteran Daniel Alfredsson said. “We need one good effort here before the break to put ourselves in a better situation.”
The NHL odds for this matchup has Tampa Bay listed -126 in the moneyline, while Detroit is +115; the goals total is set at 5.
Tampa Bay is 6-17-2 SU in its last 25 games when playing Detroit, and 4-9-1 SU in its last 14 games when playing at home against Detroit.
Also, the total has gone UNDER in 4 of Tampa Bay’s last 6 games when playing Detroit.
