Pittsburgh Penguins vs Tampa Bay Lightning Prediction: the Pleasant Taste of Victories for Tampa

Prediction for the NHL Pittsburgh Penguins vs Tampa Bay Lightning match will take place on February 27th. Who will turn out to be stronger? Check the team conditions! Several betting options are available. 

For Pittsburgh, the current regular season is tough. Pennsylvanians lack stability, so they certainly give out a series of failures. Mike Sullivan's wards misspent the second half of February, allowing four consecutive defeats in regular time with a total score of 10:21. Only the day before, the Penguins interrupted a disastrous stretch, beating St. Louis 3-2 in OT. This local success allowed the Penguins to return to eighth place in the Eastern Conference standings, but the battle for cup places continues.

Tampa Bay is a finalist in the last three Stanley Cup draws, so the Lightning had little energy and emotion for the next regular season. According to tradition, they modestly spent the starting part of the season, but slowly they remembered the pleasant taste of victories. And now the wards of John Cooper are in good shape, as evidenced by their recent results: in the previous nine meetings, they were left without points only once, losing to Vegas in a hard struggle – 4:5, three times there were defeats outside three periods, and five times they managed to win. Now Tampa Bay is fifth in the Eastern Conference standings.

Pittsburgh continues to fight for the playoffs, but the Pennsylvanians look different from the favorite, as they need to be in better shape. In the last five meetings, the Penguins have suffered four defeats in regular time, and at home, they were without points already in three games in a row. The opponent's problems should be used by the Lightning, which is in good condition, as evidenced by their recent results: they scored points in eight of the nine previous games. 

There is a high probability that the upcoming confrontation will please us with the scoring activity. In the last four personal meetings, the opponents have scored a total of 28 goals (7.00 on average per game) – a good indicator by the standards of the NHL. At the same time, Pittsburgh's defense worsened in February, having missed 23 goals in the previous five matches (4.60 on average per game), so the Penguins' forwards are forced to correct the situation.