There is a pretty full dance card in the NHL on Tuesday night, but there are few NHL matchups that look better on paper than the one that sees the Atlantic Division leading Tampa Bay Lighting head into St. Louis to face the red hot Blues, who are breathing down the neck of the Nashville Predators in the west. These are two of the best teams in the league at the moment, and this has the makings of a great one.
Date/Time: February 3rd, 2015 / 8:00PM
Venue: Scottrade Center, St. Louis, Missouri
Spread: TBA
The St. Louis Blues are coming into this game on a 5-game winning streak, and have the benefit of home ice, where they have been totally dominant this season (19-4-2). The Blues have a very well balanced team, and are 3rd overall in scoring at 3.1 goals per game, whilst also sitting 6th overall in goals against average. The Blues have picked up points in all 11 of their previous games, with the lone loss during that period coming against the Red Wings in OT back in the middle of January. Brian Elliott has been spectacular between the pipes all year, posting a 1.99 GAA, and adding a pair of shutouts during the past 10 games.
While the Tampa Bay Lightning have been great on home ice, they have been less than spectacular on the road. They are just 11-11-3 away from home ice, and have lost their last 3 road games versus Philadelphia, Boston, and Carolina. This is a record that they are going to have to vastly improve upon if they hope to make a deep run in the playoffs. The Lightning have been getting solid goaltending from Ben Bishop (26-8-2, 2.32 GAA), and they also have to be delighted with the play of rookie Cedric Paquette, who has 5 goals in his last 3 games, including his first career hat-trick versus the Detroit Red Wings.
Home Advantage Could Be Key
As great as this match-up looks, it is one that may not be quite as appealing when you take the home and away records of each team into consideration. The Blues have only dropped 4 games at home all year, which makes them solid favorites against a team that just doesn’t seem to enjoy hitting the road. I like the Blues here, but if the goalies can play up to the standards of recent weeks, expect it to be a close one.
