The Tampa Bay Lightning are not only a fresher team as the visitors against the Colorado Avalanche, but they’re also a solid commodity as a road favorite.
The Lightning, anchored by defenseman Victor Hedman, are the -140 road betting favorite on the NHL odds with the host Colorado Avalanche coming back at +120 for Wednesday at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com. The total is set at 6.5 goals.
Tampa Bay is 6-3 in its last nine regular-season games as a road favorite, as well as 14-6 in its last 20 road games against Western Conference teams. The Lightning have had two days off since their last game, while the Avalanche have the shorter turnaround after completing a four-game road trip along the East Coast on Monday.
Tampa Bay is 5-1-1 on the season as it embarks on the middle game of a five-game road trip through the Western Conference. The Lightning are third in the NHL in scoring at 3.86 goals per game. The Lightning, who have won in each of their last three visits to the Pepsi Center, are also solid on special teams, particularly with a penalty killing unit that is operating at an NHL-best 96.6 percent efficiency.
Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy has a 2.16 goals-against average and a .933 save percentage on the season.
Colorado is a somewhat surprising 6-1-2 on the season, with the likes of center Nathan MacKinnon and right wing Mikko Rantanen leading the way for an attack that is scoring at a 3.64 goals per game clip. The Avalanche are 8-1 in interconference home games since the last time the Lightning came to the Mile High City, but those kind of trends are hard to maintain, especially in a situation where a team is re-adapting to home climes after a road trip.
Not unlike the Lightning, the Avalanche have one of the league’s most efficient penalty kills, ranking third at 90.5 percent, but they are also allowing a league-worst 4.67 power plays per game and few teams can afford that against the highly potent Lightning.
Avalanche goalie Semyon Varlamov has a 1.64 goals-against average and a .953 save percentage. Colorado has one notable injury with center J.T. Compher (concussion) out indefinitely.
The total has gone OVER in six of Tampa Bay’s last eight games when it was favored on the road, according to the OddsShark NHL Database. The total has gone UNDER in four of Colorado’s last six home games against Eastern Conference teams.
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