Hunter Skoczylas shares his prediction for Friday’s NHL matchup between the St. Louis Blues and Tampa Bay Lightning.

The Blues are playing host to the Lightning on Friday night at the Enterprise Center, with puck drop set for 8:00 p.m. ET. On DraftKings Sportsbook, St. Louis is a +170 home underdog on the Moneyline, and the game’s total is set at O/U 5.5 goals.

Below, I’ll share a preview and prediction for Friday’s tilt between the Blues and Lightning.

St. Louis Blues vs. Tampa Bay Lightning prediction, preview

Blues preview

St. Louis enters tonight’s matchup coming off a 3-0 win over the Hurricanes, which was the club’s fifth shutout of the season. Prior to that game, the Blues had dropped three straight games, but all of them came while playing on the road. After a rough start to the season playing at home, the club has turned it around lately, winning six of its last nine games at the Enterprise Center.

The club’s leading point-getter, Robert Thomas, was placed on Injured Reserve on Jan. 15, which will leave a rather large hole in the offense moving forward. The Blues already fielded below-average forward groups to begin with, so Thomas’s absence, particularly his playmaking, will be sorely missed. St. Louis ranks 25th in 5v5 goals per 60 and 30th in 5v5 goal percentage. To add to the already overflowing bowl of negativity, the club’s goaltending has been poor for the majority of the season. The Blues rank fourth in 5v5 goals against per 60, and tonight’s starter, Joel Hofer, is 10-9-2 and ranks 57th in goals saved above expected.

Lightning preview

On the other bench, we have a red-hot Lightning team that has won 11 straight games, with only three of them requiring overtime or a shootout. During this span, Tampa Bay has outscored its opponents 53 to 26, and it has done so while dealing with injuries to both the forward and defensive groups. Victor Hedman had surgery in early December, Ryan McDonagh has been on Injured Reserve since Jan. 9, and now, Brayden Point is considered week-to-week with a lower-body injury.

Not only has the offense been firing on all cylinders, but the goaltending from Andrei Vasilevskiy has also been elite. Among 89 goaltenders, Vasilevskiy ranks fifth in goals saved above expected and 10th in SV% above expected. The club has allowed the second-fewest goals this season, and the third-fewest when playing at 5v5. Tampa Bay has done a great job limiting high-danger chances for Vasilevskiy to have to stop, ranking 28th in 5v5 high-danger chances against. It’s hard to imagine this team slowing down anytime soon, with Nikita Kucherov and Vasilevskiy in uniform.

Blues vs. Lightning pick, best bet

The Lightning are on the fourth game of a five-game road trip, and this win streak will have to end sooner or later, but I don’t think it will happen against such a poor goaltending team like the Blues. St. Louis likely feels good coming off a shutout win over a quality team like Carolina, but Hofer will have his hands full trying to slow down Nikita Kucherov, who has totaled 25 points during the Lightning’s 11-game win streak.

94% of the handle and 70% of the bets have already been placed on the Lightning on the Puck Line -1.5 at +140 odds, but given those percentages, that feels like a public trap to me. While I do agree that the Lightning could easily rout this Robert Thomas-less Blues squad, the 60-Min Line at -115 stands out more. Just nine of the Lightning’s and eight of the Blues’ games have required overtime or a shootout.

Best Bet: TB Lightning 60-Min Line (-115)

Prop Lean: Nikita Kucherov 2+ Points (+100)