New York Rangers-Tampa Bay Lightning Series is Now the Best-of-Three

The Lightning Have Regained Momentum, but the Playoff Series Now Shifts Back to New York, Where the Rangers Have Won Eight Consecutive Playoff Games: Here's Our Pick for Tonight's Critical Game 5

The Eastern Conference Finals shift back to New York on Thursday for Game 5 following two straight victories by Tampa Bay on their home ice that evened up this exciting series at 2-2.

Now, the big question is -- can the Tampa Bay Lightning steal at least one win at Madison Square Garden? They will have to do that to advance to their third straight Stanley Cup and they get that chance tonight.

Trouble is, the New York Rangers have been outstanding at home in this postseason. In fact, the Rangers have won 8 straight at home.

Nonetheless, the Lightning are favourites to win Game 5 on the road and also remain favoured to win the series.

The puck drops at Madison Square Garden tonight at 8:00 pm EST.

At Spreads.ca, a winning moneyline ticket on Tampa Bay pays 1.76, and 2.10 on New York.

The O/U is 5 goals shaded heavily to the OVER.

CHECK OUT THESE NHL ODDS AND MUCH MORE AT SPREADS.CA – INCLUDING BOOSTED ODDS, WHICH OFFERS A POSITIVE EXPECTATION ON YOUR WAGERS!

Like bets with a positive expectation?  Here's the boosted odds on tonight's game, only at Spreads.ca:

Prediction (powered by Pointspreads.ca):

We like this game to go OVER the total of 5 goals, despite two outstanding experienced goaltenders.

One reason is -- the Rangers are a different offensive team at home: They average 4.22 goals per game on home ice versus. only 2.44 goals per game on the road.

We also may see fatigue set in.

NYR Igor Shesterkin has played a lot of hockey in this postseason, including two seven-game series, a game in which he faced 83 shots, and a recent one in which he faced 52 blasts. His Game 4 performance was also subpar. So, perhaps the grind is catching up with him.

Both teams get off lots of shots and can be explosive. So, we think this game will inevitably test both defences, and enough pucks will make it into the net to cash the OVER tickets.

Our Game 5 Prediction:

Tampa Bay Lightning – 4

New York Rangers – 2

CHECK OUT THESE NHL ODDS AND MUCH MORE AT SPREADS.CA – INCLUDING BOOSTED ODDS, WHICH OFFERS A POSITIVE EXPECTATION ON YOUR WAGERS!