Welcome to another NHL Predictions here at Last Word on Hockey, where we provide analysis, insights, and predictions for upcoming NHL games. Tonight, the Tampa Bay Lightning bring their red hot 11-game winning streak to St. Louis to take on the struggling Blues.
NHL Predictions: Tampa Bay Lightning vs St. Louis Blues
2025-2026 Season Series: 0-1-0
Time: 7:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST)
How to Watch TV: FDSNMW, The Spot
Location: The Enterprise Center in St. Louis, Missouri
The Tampa Bay Lightning come to town following a 2-1 shootout win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday night. That game was scoreless until over halfway through the third period, when Tampa and Pittsburgh traded even-strength goals. Lightning cornerstone players Nikita Kucherov and Andrei Vasilevskiy shut the door in a shootout to give them the longest winning streak in the NHL this year.
Meanwhile, the Blues inducted another class into their franchise Hall of Fame on Tuesday. It is hard to say if the Blues played one of their best games of the season that night or if the Carolina Hurricanes were that exhausted at the end of a back-to-back set of games. Strong play from Joel Hofer in net was paired along with a short handed, even strength, and power play goal gave the Blues all of the momentum they needed to snap a three-game losing streak.
Both of these teams are in the middle of a big battle in the standings, though in very different places. Tampa Bay is in the middle of a slug fest with the Detroit Red Wings and the Montreal Canadiens. Every other night, it seems one of these teams are sitting atop the Atlantic Division standings by just a point. The Blues are simply trying to find points anywhere they can before it’s too late. Entering tonight, they sit five points behind the San Jose Sharks for the last Stanley Cup Playoff Wild Card position in the Western Conference.
Riding Lightning
Not too long before Christmas, the Blues and Lightning were having pretty comparable seasons. Roughly middle to lower end of the pack, both teams were certainly looking to make changes sooner than later. For the Lightning, that change came on December 20th in a 6-4 win over Carolina. Tampa Bay went on to win ten games after that, including a 4-1 win against St. Louis. Tonight, they’re looking to claim win number 12.
Credit Image: © Richard Ulreich/Cal Sport Media
Tampa Bay is once again being led by the usual suspects. Star players Kucherov and Vasilevskiy are having yet another great year. Kucherov enters tonight with four goals and nine assists in the last five games. To put that in perspective, Blues forward Robert Thomas has four points total in that same time frame. Now, we will mentioned that yesterday Thomas was moved to injured reserve. He will be re-evaluated in about two weeks with a lower-body injury. Moreover, in terms of the goaltending matchup, it features two goalies, who at one time, would’ve been considered close to equal in the league. Vasilevskiy is looking for his 20th win of the season. Jordan Binnington, on the other hand, has eight, as nowadays they would not been discussed in the same conversation.
Even though this winning streak is incredible, Tampa Bay has been sound offensively and defensively all year. They are second in the league for goals scored at 3.51 per game. More impressively, they are second in the league for goals against. Tampa’s defence and goaltending allow an average of 2.56 goals-per-game.
The Blues numbers for comparison? 32nd in goals scored (2.49) and 29th in goals against (3.38).
Waiting Game in St. Louis
St. Louis has one statistic that they can claim over Tampa Bay. With the shutout over Carolina, St. Louis now has a total of five to Tampa’s one. It was Hofer’s fourth shutout this season, tying him for most in the NHL with Ilya Sorokin and Jesper Wallstedt.
Given the recent blunder of a road trip, almost every sign points to St. Louis moving players out at the trade deadline. Management showed some signs of the future by recently signing young defencemen Philip Broberg and Logan Mailloux to contract extensions. Forwards Brayden Schenn and Jordan Kyrou have been subjects of many trade boards in the hockey community. Even goalie Jordan Binnington has been on those boards before, though his play this year indicates a much lower price than previously thought.
St. Louis has gone on runs late in the season before. In 2019 they had the historical ‘worst to first’ run by winning the Stanley Cup after sitting at the bottom of the standings. Last year, they made an improbable run and took the Presidents’ Trophy winning Winnipeg Jets down to the last second of their season. With the Olympic Break starting in just two and a half weeks, is it too late for another miracle ending? The trade deadline is just a week after the players return from Milan, Italy. If any moves are going to be made, the time is running out fast.
Prediction:
With 11-straight wins, the Lightning officially have the longest streak of the year so far. Jon Cooper has his team looking like the Steven Stamkos led champion Bolts back in ‘20 and ‘21. If back-up goalie Jonas Johansson plays anywhere close to how Vasilevskiy can, this team is going to be incredibly dangerous. The Blues are not at a place in their rebuild to compete daily with the likes of the top teams in the league. That said, a big win over a powerhouse Carolina team can possibly spark some life into the anemic Blues offence. This is a great time for our disclaimer to please check social media before locking in your daily fantasy starters.
Prediction: Lightning win 5-2.
Prop Bets:
There is an over/under of 5.5 goals for this game. With our NHL Predictions of seven goals here, we are taking the over at -120. We are also going to say that Nikita Kucherov will add another goal to his streak so we have him scoring at +120. For the Blues, we see rookie Dalibor Dvorsky playing another great game and scoring in his second straight. We’ll like him at +400!
Main Photo Credit: Kim Klement Neitzel-USA TODAY Sports
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