The Edmonton Oilers look to get back in the win column tonight as they take on the Tampa Bay Lightning in Tampa Bay. The Tampa Bay Lightning are currently sitting in 4th place on the NHL standings, while the Oilers are down in 15th. There is no doubt that this will be a tough game for the Oilers to win.
The Edmonton Oilers need to play a full 60 minutes if they want to beat the Lightning. After the first 15 minutes of the game on Sunday against the Minnesota Wild the Oilers were already down 4-0. The Oilers gave up way to many high quality chances. It also doesn’t help that Mike Smith couldn’t make a save.
Mike Smith allowed 4 goals on only 7 shots in that game Sunday. He is going to be starting the game tonight. He obviously needs to be better, but so does the team in front of him. After the first period the team played better, but it is an almost impossible feat to come back from a 4 goal deficit.
The Tampa Bay Lightning are riding the opposite wave. They won their last game 6-3. They started slow against New Jersey Devils being down 3-1 then scored 5 goals in a row. The only thing about any potential momentum is that they have played since last Tuesday.
It has been more than a week since the Lightning have played a game. This is something that could favor the Edmonton Oilers. The Lightning could be rusty, where the Oilers are coming off a streak of 5 games in 7 nights. They have had no games the last 2 nights, but they should still be in game shape.
For the Edmonton Oilers to win tonight they are going to need solid goaltending and a full 60 minute team effort. They don’t need Mike Smith to be amazing and stand on his head, they need him to be an average NHL goaltender if they want to win. For the players in front of him, they need to stop giving up a bunch of grade A scoring chances.
This is a good litmus test to see where the Edmonton Oilers stand in line with the top tier of NHL team. They had a test against Minnesota on Sunday, but that was a quite a tired Oilers team. With Tampa being a better team and the Oilers being rested this is the best insight to where the Edmonton Oilers stand amongst the league’s best.
Edmonton Oilers Lines
Oilers lines at practice in Tampa, FL:
— Tony Brar (@TonyBrarOTV) February 22, 2022
McLeod - McDavid - Hyman
Kane - Draisaitl - Yamamoto
Foegele - Nugent-Hopkins - Ryan
Shore - Sceviour - Benson
Perlini - Turris
Nurse - Bouchard
Lagesson - Ceci
Niemelainen - Barrie
Broberg
Smith
Koskinen#Oilers
Tampa Bay Lightning Lines
Today’s lines:
— Lightning Insider (@Erik_Erlendsson) February 21, 2022
Palat-Point-Kucherov
Killorn-Stamkos-Joseph
Colton-Cirelli-Raddysh
Maroon-Bellemare-Perry
Katchouk
Hedman-Rutta
McDonagh-Cernak
Sergachev-Foote
Vasilevskiy
Elliott
Game #51
Date: 2/23/2022
Opponent: Tampa Bay Lightning
Location: Amalie Arena, Tampa Bay
Time: 5:30PM
Live Stream: FuboTV
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Betting Odds: WynnBET
The Edmonton Oilers and the Tampa Bay Lightning betting odds on WynnBET have Edmonton as +1.5 point underdogs tonight, while the Lightning are the favorites at -1.5. The Lightning are favored with a Moneyline odd of -220 on the night while Edmonton is sitting at +175. Tonight’s game is expected to be high-scoring with an over/under of 6.5 goals on the night.