Lightning vs. Blues – 2/14/16 NHL Pick, Odds, and Prediction

The Tampa Bay Lightning will be without Jason Garrison for three to five weeks after the veteran defenseman suffered a lower-body injury Monday against the Ottawa Senators. “Obviously, nice to come up and score a big goal for the team”, Stamkos said after the game.

The Lightning were within a minute of losing their third game in a row when Stamkos tied the game with 26 seconds remaining, firing a shot past Predators goalie Pekka Rinne after the Lightning had pulled goalie Ben Bishop for an extra attacker in the final minute. At 6-foot-2, 223 pounds, Garrison is one of the team leaders in blocks and hits, averaging the third most average even-strength ice time (16:18 per game). Lightning center Vladislav Namestnikov went hard into the boards in the final minute of the second period and went directly to the locker room, but he was back on the bench for the start of the third period.NOTES: The Lightning, playing the second game in a four-game, seven-day homestand, had C Jonathan Marchessault and recent call-up D Slater Koekkoek as healthy scratches, while St. Louis scratched RW Dmitrij Jaskin, D Peter Harrold and LW Magnus Paajarvi….

Lightning coach Jon Cooper saw it differently. Back on December 5, the Tampa Bay Lightning were able to hold on tight to their early lead over the Sharks to come up victorious 4-3 at the SAP Center in San Jose. Bishop denied the breakaway, but the rebound went off the skate of Berglund and into the net with 2:19 left to play. Shortly after the goal, the Lightning caught a break, as on another odd man rush Vladimir Tarasenko got one past Bishop and it clanged off the crossbar.

The Lightning took a 2-1 lead into the third period after scoring two goals in a span of 1:45 midway through the second period. He’s practicing with the team again, but there’s no definitive word on when he might be ready to play again. We’ve kept everything to ourselves and I know it sucks for you (media), I totally understand. “We couldn’t kill the game there and that was frustrating”. The Lightning hadn’t lost three straight games in regulation since October, putting them in the middle of a large logjam in the Eastern Conference standings. Tyler Johnson and Victor Hedman assisted on Kucherov’s goal…. The Lightning recalled G Andrei Vasilevskiy from Syracuse and reassigned G Kristers Gudlevskis to the AHL club….

Defenseman David Schlemko’s power play goal 5:19 into the first period was all of the offense the New Jersey Devils would need in their 1-0 win over the Los Angeles Kings at the Prudential Center. They are 2-3 over that stretch….

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