NHL Prediction: Tampa Bay Lightning vs Columbus Blue Jackets on 13.08.2020

Tampa Bay will meet Columbus again in the second match of the NHL Playoff series. In this article, we will provide a forecast for this confrontation. Will the team of John Cooper manage to prevail again? 

• NHL Prediction: Vegas Golden Knights – Chicago Blackhawks on 13.08

Tampa Bay Lightning

After the break, Tampa won all of their games except a game against Philadelphia. The team’ s last meeting with Columbus turned out to be incredibly tense. However, in the end,Braden Point hit the opponent’s goal with a long shot to bring victory to his team. Goalkeeper Andrey Vasilevsky made 61 save in that game, so we can say that the goalkeeper is in excellent shape. However, as the opening match showed, it is tough for John Cooper’s squad to cope with the defense of the Jackets. But even before that, the team did not score more than three goals per game, and now it is mainly building the game from the defense.

Columbus Blue Jackets

Columbus has alternated wins and losses since the series against Toronto. Let’s remember that in the fourth match the team lost to the Leafs in overtime (3-4 OT). In the decisive game, they won with a score of 3-0. Note that in the confrontation with Tampa, Pierre-Luc Dubois was the best player of the team. He managed to score a goal and make an assist.

 

The almost perfect match was played by Joonas Korpisalo, who saved 85 shots, so he will likely appear in goal in the upcoming game. Let us emphasize that John Tortorella’s squad played very disciplined and practically did not break the rules. But at the end of the match, Dean Kukan still earned a penalty, which is why, perhaps, the Jackets soon conceded the decisive goal. 

Tampa Bay Lightning – Columbus Blue Jackets prediction

We think that the victory in the previous fight should have given the Lightning the additional motivation, while Columbus, on the contrary, may have weakened psychologically. Tampa Bay still looked more active in attack than the Jackets, so we suggest repeating the bet on their victory.