T.M. Selection: Tampa Bay Lightning +1.5.

I like the Tampa Bay Lightning puckline in this game against the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday. The Lightning have looked really good in their games lately and I think they are going to continue that here winning this game. They have won 4 games in a row after losing the 1st 2 games of that series to the Rangers but they had a sweep over the Panthers in the previous round too so those 2 losses to the Rangers have been their only 2 losses in their previous 12 games. Those 2 losses also came right after a 10 day layoff for the Lightning after sweeping the Panthers, so they weren't at their best for that game. The Lightning really turned it on in the previous series against the Rangers and I think they have their killer instinct back with the way their defense has looked. Vasilevskiy has also looked incredible in these most recent games and I expect he will continue his great performance into this series. The Avalanche swept the Oilers in the previous round so they are facing a similar situation that the Lightning were with a long layoff before playing this series. I think we are going to see the same thing here for the Avalanche as we saw in the Lightning and I expect the Avalanche to get a slower start here and not be on the ball after such a long layoff. Even if the Avalanche win this game, I don't see them winning by more than 1 goal here since Vasilevskiy has looked so good in their games but I think the Lightning can win this game and take the series lead right off the bat here. I like the Lightning puckline in this game.

T.M. Prediction: 3-2 Lightning.