Posted at 3:30 PM EST odds are subject to change.

Pinnacle -½ +347 BET365 -½ +350 SportsInteraction -½ +365  888Sport -½ +350

Vancouver -½ +365 over Tampa Bay

7:07 PM EST. Regulation only. We’re not telling you what to bet. We’re telling you what we’re betting and giving you reasons why and then the rest is up to you. We’re getting behind the Canucks here because this team is capable of scoring five goals on any given night and they’re also capable of beating anyone. Now add in this absurd price and we’ll take our chances. Sometimes the price will dictate the play and that is absolutely the case here.

Tampa Bay has pedigree on top of pedigree. It seems like they have either won the cup or appeared in the Stanley Cup Finals every year for the past decade. Of course they haven’t but it sure feels like they have. This year the Bolts are not dominating. Why would they be? They lost several key pieces and their intensity level is not nearly as high for a stranger like Vancouver as it would be for a familiar foe like the Panthers or Hurricanes for example. There is no urgency because the Bolts know they’re going to make the playoffs and then they’ll turn it on. They have been here, done that too many times to burn out in January.

Tampa is 5-4 in its last nine games. Those last five wins came against Columbus, Chicago, Arizona, the Rangers and Montreal. That’s the four worst teams in the NHL with a side helping of the Rags but New York blasted 46 shots on the Lightning and deserved to win. Tampa is 5-11, that’s right, five wins in 16 games versus top-16 teams this year and now they’re priced like they’re the Harlem Globetrotters against the Washington Generals. Absurd price.