{"id":36982,"date":"2011-04-11T14:19:44","date_gmt":"2011-04-11T21:19:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.capperspicks.com\/blog\/?p=36982"},"modified":"2023-02-07T07:39:30","modified_gmt":"2023-02-07T15:39:30","slug":"playoff-picks-tampa-bay-lightning-vs-pittsburgh-penguins-series-predictions-11411","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/nhl\/playoff-picks-tampa-bay-lightning-vs-pittsburgh-penguins-series-predictions-11411\/","title":{"rendered":"2011 Stanley Cup Playoff Picks \u2013 Lightning vs. Penguins"},"content":{"rendered":"

NHL Playoff Betting \u2013 Penguins vs Lightning Series Preview & Pick<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Stanley Cup Betting<\/strong><\/a> fans sure are getting their money\u2019s worth from the\u00a0free nhl picks<\/strong><\/a> we give out here at Capperspicks.com. Stick with us for the entire 2011 NHL Stanley cup playoff run.<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT SPORTSBOOK.COM\u2019S NHL HOCKEY BETTING LINES FOR THIS WEEK’S MATCHUPS!!!!<\/h3>\n

2011 EASTERN CONFERENCE QUARTERFINALS | #5 Tampa Bay vs. Pittsburgh #4<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wednesday, April 13 at Pittsburgh, 7:00 p.m. CBC (HD)
\nFriday, April 15 at Pittsburgh, 7:00 p.m. CBC (HD)
\nMonday, April 18 at Tampa Bay, 7:30 p.m. CBC (HD), VERSUS (JIP)
\nWednesday, April 20 at Tampa Bay, 7:30 p.m. CBC (HD)
\n*Saturday, April 23 at Pittsburgh, TBD CBC (HD), VERSUS (JIP)
\n*Monday, April 25 at Tampa Bay, TBD CBC (HD)
\n*Wednesday, April 27 at Pittsburgh, TBD CBC (HD)<\/p>\n

Odds To Win Cup: Tampa Bay +650, Pittsburgh +450
\nLightning vs Penguins Odds To Win 7 Game Series: Lighting +130, Penguins -150<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cPenguins vs. Lightning.\u201d It has a nice ring to it. Sounds like a snazzy BBC documentary chronicling a species\u2019 fight against climate change. Only it\u2019s something better than that. It\u2019s an NHL playoff series \u2013 and I think it\u2019ll be a damn good one.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s strange to say it \u2013 but I don\u2019t think there was a more \u201cunder the radar\u201d success story than the Pittsburgh Penguins in the second half of the 2010-11 season. Am I crazy? The Pens had Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, a hit HBO series and the Winter Classic outdoor game. How could they be under the radar?<\/p>\n

The Pens crept up on us all because Malkin and Crosby both suffered serious injuries. Malkin blew out his knee; Crosby suffered a major concussion. As soon as the two superstars went down, most bettors and pundits crossed Pittsburgh off their list of contenders and said \u201cwait until next season.\u201d<\/p>\n

But something crazy happened. In a sense, having no Crosby and Malkin opened the door for a major success story in Pittsburgh. The rest of the Penguins got an ultimate test, a chance to prove that they could win hockey games without the stars. And Pittsburgh totally rose to the occasion. This is by no means a one-man team.<\/p>\n

Marc-Andre Fleury still struggles with inconsistency but he\u2019s one of the game\u2019s best \u201cbig-game\u201d goalies because of his athleticism. Jordan Staal and Tyler Kennedy have elevated their play, transitioning from two-way players into offensive threats.<\/p>\n

The neatest part about the Pens\u2019 second-half heroics, which helped them finish with their second-highest point total in franchise: they reinvented themselves. They posted the league\u2019s best penalty-killing percentage. They allowed the seventh-fewest goals in the league. These aren\u2019t the high-flying Pens anymore; they\u2019re the gritty, stingy Pens, the East\u2019s answer to the Nashville Predators, and they\u2019re damned good at what they do.<\/p>\n

Still \u2013 standing in front of the Pens is a dangerous opponent in the Tampa Bay Lightning. New head coach Guy Boucher, a power-play guru, was the perfect fit this season. He made the most of snipers like Steven Stamkos and St. Louis, who both challenged for the scoring title; he finally got something out of Simon Gagne and Vinny Lecavalier in the latter parts of the season. \"Sports<\/p>\n

2010-11 was a resounding success for Steve Yzerman and the new Tampa management team; but I think the buck may stop here. The Lightning have lots of flash and dash but the truth is that this is still a flawed hockey club.<\/p>\n

Of the 16 playoff qualifiers, only Detroit allowed more goals than Tampa this season. The Lighting have size on the back end with Victor Hedman, Pavel Kubina, and Mattias Ohlund, to name a few guys, but they don\u2019t play consistently well and they don\u2019t always play to their size.<\/p>\n

In goal, Dwayne Roloson is a major question mark for Tampa. Is he good enough to steal a series when he\u2019s on? Absolutely. But Rollie the Goalies is also 40 years old. He had a .922 save percentage in January, an .895 percentage in February and a .918 percentage in March. He\u2019s all over the map.<\/p>\n

Another surprising question mark for Tampa is its supposed superstar, Steven Stamkos. After tearing up the league in the first half this season, he had just seven goals and 24 points over his final 31 games. He has to be playing hurt.<\/p>\n

The Lightning have the firepower to push Pittsburgh to the limit \u2013 especially if the Pens get into penalty trouble. But Pittsburgh is a more complete, defensively sound, battle-hardened team. Even without Crosby, I think the Pens have what it takes to slip past Tampa. If Sid the Kid returns from his concussion during the series, that\u2019s just gravy.<\/p>\n

Penguins vs Lightning prediction: <\/strong>Penguins in 7<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT OUR HOCKEY HANDICAPPING PLAYS FOR THIS YEARS PLAYOFF ACTION —–><\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 2011 NHL Playoff 7 game series between the #5 Tampa Bay Lightning vs Pittsburgh Penguins #4 opens on Wednesday night, here\u2019s the odds and our free Series prediction for the 2011 first round playoff matchup\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":195,"featured_media":36963,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[28750,31544,48133,21458,48172,48173,48174,48175,48176,11729,48138,27691,27692,27674,48170,48171],"class_list":["post-36982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nhl","tag-28750","tag-2011-stanley-cup-futures","tag-2011-stanley-cup-playoff-picks","tag-hockey-betting-picks","tag-lightning-penguins-lines","tag-lightning-penguins-picks","tag-lightning-penguins-predictions","tag-lightning-vs-penguins-series-preview","tag-lightning-vs-penguins","tag-round-1","tag-round-1-predictions","tag-stanley-cup-playoff-picks","tag-stanley-cup-playoff-prediction","tag-stanley-cup-playoffs","tag-tampa-bay-lightning-vs-pittsburgh-penguins-predictions","tag-tampa-bay-vs-pittsburgh"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/195"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36982"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36982\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":108207,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36982\/revisions\/108207"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}