(27-40  +1.21 units)

Lightning/Jets:

The Tampa Bay Lightning are continuing their trip through the very cold climates at their worst, and will make a stop in Winnipeg after a somewhat sluggish game in St. Paul last night.

As we all know, Tampa has been red hot as of late. The Lightning were just off a ten game winning streak, but have now lost two of their past three games. While every hot streak ending is inevitable, Lightning leaders (Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov) have made it clear that sloppy play and not moving around fast enough were the two main shortcomings in Thursdays 3-2 loss. While I am sure that Tampa hopes for an improvement in offense as well, defense and limiting turnovers appears to be the main focus for tonight. On top of that, they will get their Superstar goalie back.

The Winnipeg Jets have been one of the more unpredictable teams night in and night out, but they are also coming off a nice shut out win on Tuesday against Vancouver. The Jets have been juggling a musical chair of injuries in the backend, but should gain extra focus collectively against Tampa Bay. Certain components of Head Coach Paul Maurice and Captain Blake Wheeler’s interviews do suggest that Winnipeg’s plan in practice yesterday was to prepare for a dump and chase approach against the Lightning. This means that Winnipeg will play a cautious and wary style, limiting the Dangerous Tampa team’s opportunities. However, the Jets too, will not expect set offensive schemes to come into fruition tonight. The dump and chase approach will result in a gritty game overall, where goals should not come easily for either team if executed accordingly.

I think a lot of this one will be played in the trenches, as both teams are aware of their situations and game plans coming into this one. Because of the firepower involved with both teams, we have a generous total right now.

UNDER 6.5 -118  1*