Hockey Betting: Tampa Bay vs Washington

The Eastern conference’s Southeast Division is the NHL’s most lopsided division. Friday night’s game between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Washington Capitals, features two teams on opposite ends of that spectrum.

Tampa Bay Lightning @ Washington Capitals
Friday March 12, 2010-7:00 ET
Verizon Center, Washington, D.C.
: Washington - 320

The Southeast division is the most lopsided grouping in the NHL. An astounding 33 points separates the first place Capitals from the second place Atlanta Thrashers and Lightning. Washington is the only team of the five to currently hold a playoff position, and it is the top spot in the conference.

What Tampa Bay Will Have To Do To Win:

The Lightning have struggled mightily since the Olympic break, a sore streak that a team fighting for a playoff spot can hardly afford to be a part of. Tampa Bay has lost four of five games since the return, and seven of eight overall. The slide has dropped the Bolts to the eleventh spot in the east, six points back of the Boston Bruins for the eighth and final playoff spot. The Lightning hit rock bottom Thursday night in a 4-3 overtime loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs, who currently occupy the last place spot in the conference. Now they will have to take on the conference best in Washington, a team that has dominated them of late, winning 14 of the last 15 contests between them. The Lightning will need another superb performance from its top line, which features sophomore Steven Stamkos, whose 42 goals are more than any other player not named Ovechkin or Crosby. But even then they may still not be able to match the league’s top ranked offense. Antero Niittymaki should be back in goal after starting in the Lightning’s lone win over Washington the last two seasons in mid-January, and will have to bounce back after getting pulled for surrendering 4 goals on 13 shots in a loss to Montreal on Tuesday.

What Washington Will Have To Do To Win:

The Capitals became the first team to clinch their division on Thursday, when the Lightning and Thrashers both lost. However, Washington’s goal this season extends well beyond a division title, and even further than the conference title that they are all but a lock to win, currently leading Pittsburgh by 14 points. The Caps will lock up home ice advantage throughout the playoffs if they can continue to win, a factor head coach Bruce Boudreau feels will be pivotal in the team’s quest to win the Stanley Cup in 2010. Washington has scored an average of just under four goals a game in four previous match ups this season, and there is no reason to believe that trend will stop. What the Capitals must do is have one of either Jose Theodore or Semyon Varlamov establish themselves as the team’s true number one not just for this game, but for the remainder of the team’s Stanley Cup run.

Outlook and Pick:

Although the Lightning could potentially still qualify for the playoffs in the east, a sad stretch has all but eliminated them, and it is hard to imagine the bleeding in Tampa Bay will stop against a Capitals’ team that has dominated them the last couple of seasons.

NHL Betting Pick: Washington

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