Tampa Bay Lightning (50-26-6) vs. Montreal Canadiens (48-24-10) April 24, 2026 7:00 pm EDT The Line: Montreal Canadiens +102 / Tampa Bay Lightning -122; Over/Under: 5.5 (Get latest betting odds)
The Tampa Bay Lightning and the Montreal Canadiens meet Friday in NHL action from the Benchmark International Arena. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best bets for this game. Here’s a Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Montreal Canadiens prediction.
The Tampa Bay Lightning come into this game looking to add on to their win over Montreal last time out by a final score of 3-2 in OT.
Nikita Kucherov leads the Lightning in scoring with 130 points including 44 goals and 86 assists while Brandon Hagel has 74 points with 36 goals and 38 assists and Jake Guentzel has 88 points with 38 goals and 50 assists. Anthony Cirelli has 52 points with 23 goals and 29 assists. Darren Raddysh has also added 70 points with 22 goals and 48 assists as well on the year. Andrei Vasilevskiy has gone 39-15-4 with a 2.31 GAA and a .912 save percentage while Jonas Johansson is 11-10-2 with a 3.29 GAA and an .884 save percentage this season.
The Montreal Canadiens come into this one looking to shake off their loss at the hands of the Lightning in game two last time out.
Nick Suzuki leads Montreal with 101 points including 29 goals and 72 assists while Cole Caufield has 88 points with a team-high 51 goals and 37 assists. Lane Hutson has 78 points with 66 assists while Ivan Demidov has 62 points with 19 goals and 43 assists. Noah Dobson has 47 points with 35 assists and Mike Matheson has 37 points with 7 goals and 30 assists. Oliver Kapanen has 37 points with 22 goals and 15 assists while Zack Bolduc has 30 points with 12 goals and 18 assists. Juraj Slafkovsky also has 73 points with 30 goals and 43 assists. Sam Montembault has gone 10-8-4 with a 3.43 GAA and an .872 save percentage in goal for the Canadiens while Jakub Dobes is 29-10-4 with a 2.78 GAA and a .901 save percentage. Jacob Fowler is also 8-6-2 with a 2.52 GAA and an .904 save percentage for the Habs this season.
I’m on the Canadiens in this one. This is a big spot for the Habs to not only defend home ice, but to also have their home playoff debut for this season and the Canadiens are known for having one of the more raucous and reliable fan bases in the NHL. I think the Habs get fueled by the home ice edge here and get the job done in this one so give me Montreal.