10* Tampa Bay (4:05 ET): The Lightning were just starting to hit their stride when the coronavirus hit. They were inching closer to Boston for the top spot in the Atlantic and had the 2nd most points in the entire Eastern Conference. They also had the best goal differential in the league (+50) besides the Bruins. Washington, who had 90 points, outscored its opponents by basically only half that margin and wasn’t looking nearly as dominant. I’m looking for a statement win by TB here today.

Now the Lightning did lose all three times they faced the Capitals this year. But all three games were played before X-Mas, prior to when TB really started to get its act together. Washington has goaltending concerns heading into the tournament as Braden Holtby has no backup. That would be fine if Holtby was having a good season, but his save percentage this year was down under .900. As a reminder, the Lightning led the league in goals scored.

Tampa looked dominant in a tuneup vs. Florida last week, winning 5-0. Their top line looked sharp and that has to be scary for the rest of the league. Andrei Vasilevskiy had another strong campaign between the pipes, so the Lightning are fine there. This is a really good value on the superior side. 10* Tampa Bay