Lightning Try To Kick Flyers While They’re Down

Philadelphia Flyers @ Tampa Bay Lightning – Monday March 18, 2013 7:30PM EST

There is just something poetic about the Philadelphia Flyers taking a beating at the hands of the rest of the NHL. For years, the sports betting experts remember the Philadelphia Flyers being the team that was so difficult to play against because of its physical nature. These days, Philadelphia is having a hard time keeping up with most teams in the league and it has been dropped to the bottom of the Atlantic Division. It is a position that the Tampa Bay Lightning intend on keeping the Flyers pinned into for at least one night.

The online betting sites know that the Tampa Bay Lightning is not having a great season either, but Tampa has some serious potential that can emerge from time to time. One of the areas where Tampa has the most potential is in goal with Anders Lindback. This is a goalie that started the season off with a bang, but has slowly declined since then. Lindback has never been the number one goalie on an NHL team in his career and he is still adjusting to the position. But he has shown enough promise that the Lightning stick with him, even on those nights where he has to get pulled in the second period because of his poor play.

Why the Flyers Will Win

While the Lightning seem to have some kind of light at the end of its goaltending tunnel, the Flyers continue to struggle with its netminding situation. The betting sites thought that former Phoenix Coyotes goalie Ilya Bryzgalov would be the solution for Philly, but the eccentric goalie has turned out to be more of a burden than a relief. The other problem for the Flyers is that the team has traded away most of its scoring punch over the past few years and is now having problems scoring goals at key moments in games. These are all issues that a team like Tampa can easily exploit.

Why the Lightning Will Win

Tampa Bay is having no problems scoring goals, but it is getting impatient as it waits for Lindback to become the starting goalie that the team feels he can be. The Lightning still has some of the hardest playing forwards in the league with Martin St. Louis and Vincent Lecavalier to go along with scoring machines like Steven Stamkos. Until Lindback gets his game going, the Lightning will have to continue to overwhelm teams with offense.

The Bottom Line

The Tampa Bay Lightning and Philadelphia Flyers are two teams that have been struggling for the past couple of years to be relevant when the playoffs roll around. It was not that long ago that Philadelphia made its run to the Cup Finals, but it was long enough ago where the team has forgotten how to win big games and push itself to the next level.

Pick: Tampa Bay Lightning