Doc’s Sports

Getting a great price here on arguably the best team in the NHL. They will miss Sam Bennett tonight, but they have plenty of firepower to get the job done. They will have plenty of firepower in their arsenal. And this is a regional rivalry so they never feel far from home playing in Tampa Bay. In fact, they have won the last three meetings in Tampa Bay. And only one of them was close. They had a goal differential of +11 in those three games. Tampa Bay is a very solid team but they have been slowly getting worse since their epic championship runs. This is a crucial game and they can basically land the death blow to the Lightning by going up 3-0 after Tampa Bay blew their chance in Game 2 in OT.

Both Games 1 and 2 went over this total, and we expect Game 3 to do the same. We expect another close game and expect both teams to get their points. With the way Game 2 ended, overtime would not be out of the realm of possibility. But we don’t think we will need OT here to cash this ticket. The Knicks are no longer anemic on offense and this team can put up some points. They have scored over 110 in 7 of their last 9 games. They scored 120 or more in four of those. Jalen Brunson is a threat to have a big scoring night at ant time, and he seems like the type of player that will step up in a game like this. We don’t think the Sixers can rely on defense to get the win here. So they will need to execute on offense. We expect both teams to get their share of the total tonight, and both teams should surpass the century mark just as they did in the first two games of this series.

6 Unit Play. Take #903 Philadelphia (-1.5 RL) over Cincinnati (1:10p.m., Thursday, April 25 ESPN+) All three games in this series have been easily covered by the run line and the Phillies will try and make it 3 of 4 wins in the Queen City. Zack Wheeler has been a tough luck loser thus far in 2024. He has a 1-3 win/loss record but a 0.89 WHIP and a 2.30 E.R.A. Nick Martinez has pitched better of late, but this will be the strongest lineup he has faced this season and also does not give the Reds much depth. Lay the run line with the better team on Thursday.