NHL Tuesday best bets: Lightning to strike vs. Canucks

We started the week on a strong note, going 3-0 with our plays Monday night. Let's look to keep things moving in the right direction with a couple of road teams worth backing on Tuesday's monster NHL card.

Hurricanes (-130) @ Senators (+110)

The Hurricanes have dropped four consecutive games and five of the past six. Despite their recent string of losses, they haven't played all that poorly.

They've been sunk by the league's worst goaltending and an unsustainably low shooting percentage. Even for a Hurricanes team that struggles to finish chances seemingly every year, the numbers they're posting are simply too low.

Their PDO (combined shooting percentage and save percentage) during this 1-5 stretch is around .930. That number generally hovers around 1.000 over the long haul, so positive regression is coming at some point.

I think this could be a good get-right spot for the Hurricanes, who have largely played well at five-on-five and controlled the run of play.

While the Senators have upped their game of late, losing Thomas Chabot to another injury could hurt them against such a strong forechecking team like the Hurricanes.

The Senators have also gone through their share of goaltending issues this season. Things have stabilized a little bit of late, but they still own a sub-.900 team save percentage on the year. A tandem of Joonas Korpisalo and Anton Forsberg is hardly bulletproof.

I expect an angry Hurricanes team - fresh off a players-only meeting - to come out with extra pep in their step in this game.

Look for Carolina to right the ship.

Bet: Hurricanes (-130)

Lightning (+105) @ Canucks (-125)

Don't look now, but the Lightning appear to be turning a corner. They've won three of the past four games and put together some impressive performances along the way.

Tampa Bay started the run with a shutout victory over the Stars. It followed that up with a strong defensive effort against the Penguins, allowing only 25 shots in a multi-goal victory. The Lightning also picked up a road win over a desperate Kraken team in their last outing.

The lone loss during this run came on the road against the Predators. Jonas Johansson made the start in that game and didn't give the Lightning much of a chance, allowing four goals on only 29 shots.

The team's strong play goes beyond just a few games, though. The Bolts own a 53% expected goals share at five-on-five over the last 10, which is a top-10 clip in the NHL.

We know how dangerous Nikita Kucherov and Co. are on the power play, and Andrei Vasilevskiy is one of the better goaltenders in the league. If the Lightning continue playing this well at five-on-five, they'll be a real threat.

The Canucks are a solid team, but they have come back down to earth over the past month. They've essentially traded wins and losses, failing to find success with any sort of consistency.

I think the Bolts are in better form right now at even strength and have an edge in special teams. Look for them to convert those advantages into another win.

Bet: Lightning (+105)

Todd Cordell is a sports betting writer at theScore. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @ToddCordell.