NHL Pick Of The Day 02/18
This is starting to feel like a streak. Come on Sippy!
Current Record: 5-2, +3.55u
Sippy's unit system ranges from 1.0 to 3.0, with most picks at 1.5 or 2u, but he'll occasionally stray from that - usually displaying a measure of his condidence in the pick.
At Oddschecker we're committed to giving you the best picks possible and we've recruited Reddit-favorite and NHL guru Sippy47 to guide you through the best value bets around.
02/18 - Tampa Bay Lightning @ Columbus Blue Jackets
Pick: Tampa Bay Lightning ML -130
Stake: 2.5u
Tampa has rounded into form nicely as of late, winning 5 straight against solid opponents (Pens, Panthers, Flames, Stars, and Habs), outscoring their opponents 25-9 in that stretch as they've been really dominating (their last two games have been 6-0 and 3-0 victories), scoring at will while standing firm on defense as they remain at the top of the league by a wide margin in points. They've done really well away from home this season, posting a 20-6-2 record on the road and have won 10 of their last 13 games away from home. I don't think home ice will be much of an advantage for Columbus tonight both due to the Lightning's road prowess and the fact that the Blue Jackets have a worse record at home than away from it this season. They've lost 4 of their last 5 games at home and have faced the Lightning twice this season, getting trounced 4-0 and 8-2 in those contests. Tampa's won 5 straight meetings with the Blue Jackets and will be playing against a backup goalie tonight and think this line is an absolute steal.
Andrei Vasilevskiy will mind the net for Tampa tonight and he's been on fire recently, posting 2 straight shutouts and a 1.43 GAA over his last 7 games in which he went 5-0-2. He's won 5 of 7 career starts against Columbus with a 1.84 GAA in those games and I think he's got a huge edge in net tonight. The Blue Jackets are starting backup Joonas Korpisalo in goal and he's played just once this month in a loss to the Blues where he allowed 3 goals - he's posted a 2.96 GAA this season and I think a Lightning offense that scores more goals than anyone else in the league will be licking their chops coming into this one.