Tampa vs Florida. Prediction and Betting Tips for NHL (May 21, 2021).

Tampa had a weak finish to their regular season. The team suffered two devastating defeats from Florida - their opponent in the first round of the playoffs (1:5 and 0:4). Goaltender Vasilevsky had two bad games in a row, stopping only 86% of the shots. Also, the Lightning lacked confidence in attack.

But already in the playoffs, the Lightning took revenge on the Panthers, which is more important than the last rounds of the regular season. The first game turned out to be rather difficult but Tampa still got a win (5:4). In the second game, John Cooper's men left no chances to Florida (3:1).

Florida were in excellent form before the start of the playoffs and they consistently earned points: in 12 games, the Panthers suffered only two defeats from Nashville (1:4) and Carolina (2:4). A large number of points they scored earlier allowed the Panthers to overtake Tampa and get on the second line of the Central Division standings.

Oddly enough, in the Stanley Cup, the Panthers lost their mojo and stopped demonstrating excellent play. That led to two defeats from the Lightning. The goalie Bobrovsky was unreliable in the first game, stopping only 87% of the shots. In the return game, Florida had plenty of attacking chances, but they failed to use them.