Both of the Stanley Cup semifinal series are tied at a game apiece, with Montreal getting the split in Las Vegas and the New York Islanders doing the same down in Tampa Bay. The Canadiens are on a roll; they were the last team to qualify for the playoffs, and they turned an early 0-2 series deficit against Toronto into a six-game series win before sweeping Winnipeg. The Golden Knights were in a similar situation against Colorado before flipping the switch and winning four straight.
Let’s look at Game 3 previews for each series as well as our NHL betting picks.
NHL News: Semifinal Games (June 17-18)
Thursday, June 17
Tampa Bay Lightning at New York Islanders
Game 3 (8:00 pm ET, USA) | Series tied, 1-1
After New York went down to Tampa Bay and stole Game 1, the Lightning came roaring back to double up the Islanders in Game 2, 4-2. Nikita Kucherov had three assists on the night, giving him four games in this postseason with at least three points. He has 44 assists since the beginning of the 2020 postseason, the most in two straight seasons since Doug Gilmore posted 47 in 1993 and 1994 for Toronto. He provided the helpers for goals by Victor Hedman, Ondrej Palat and Brayden Point. The Lightning are now 12-0 in games coming after a playoff loss since the beginning of their title run a year ago. Point now has goals in five straight games and leads all players with 10 postseason points. Palat’s goal came in the second period — and it came as Tampa Bay had six skaters on the ice, a penalty that the officials missed.
Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 24 of the 26 shots he saw, while Semyon Varlamov had to leave for part of the first period after a collision with Point. Ilya Sorokin relieved Varlamov for the rest of the first period, but then Varlamov returned and permitted four goals on 27 shots. Sorokin stopped all six shots he saw, but this looks like Varlamov’s series — at least for now. Brock Nelson and Mathew Barzal scored the goals for the Islanders. Can the Islanders get their momentum back in raucous Nassau Coliseum?
Final Prediction:
Lightning 3, Islanders 1
Friday, June 18
Vegas Golden Knights at Montreal Canadiens
Game 3 (8:00 pm ET, USA) | Series tied, 1-1
Montreal looked out of sorts in their 4-1 Game 1 loss in Las Vegas, but they turned things around, riding goaltender Carey Price to a 3-2 road win in Game 2. He stopped 29 shots, giving himself a 9-4 playoff record this year. That’s more wins than he has ever tallied in a postseason. Paul Byron, Joel Armia and Tyler Toffoli all lit the lamp for the Canadiens, as the team backed off from a more physical approach from the series opener and went back to their high-octane offensive style. That helped them dominate all three zones in the first period.
Montreal is now 6-2 away from home in the playoffs this season and is on a 21-game postseason winning streak when scoring three or more goals. Vegas did not have first-line center Chandler Stephenson in the lineup, and that showed in the first period, as Montreal led in shot attempts (24-13), shots on goal (12-4) and scoring chances (14-4). For Vegas, Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 20 shots, but it was not enough, and when Vegas started to amp up the pressure, Price was able to stand tall. Going back to Montreal should give the Canadiens the momentum in yet another series.
Final Prediction:
Montreal 3, Vegas 2
NHL Betting Odds
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