The first league in England ended its last season in March, after which teams rested for almost a year. For 35 rounds the “devils” managed to win 12 victories and 12 draws, which brought 42 points and the 16-th final place in the League-1 standings. The Red-Blacks have scored 44 goals, 14 of which are on Walker’s account. In the 1/16 finals the team took turns in Crew (2:1) and Bradford City (5: 0). The start of the 2020/21 season for Michael Appleton’s charges began successfully. They got victory over Oxford United (2:0) and Milton Keynes (2:1).
Compared to the first match Tampa Bay significantly changed the pattern of their game and began to act easier in the opponent’s zone. The team waited for the puck to rebound, fought on the opponent’s patch and this hockey bore fruit. We would like to emphasize that Braden Point scored a goal, which was lacking for “Lightning” earlier and Nikita Kucherov scored two assists. John Cooper believes that his team needs to “make the game uncomfortable for the opponent” and “go into dirty zones.” Indeed, Khudobin catches all throws from pure ice, so the Bolts have to come up with something right on the ice in order to hit the goal. By the way, before that, Tampa had to meet with defensive clubs in the Stanley Cup and they coped with these tests, albeit not without problems. Of course, if Stamkos appears in the squad, he will significantly strengthen the attack, but this cannot be counted on, since he is still recovering from an injury. It is quite possible that the “Lightning” will try to act as primitive as in the previous meeting and will try to do the same, but to win they need to score again in the majority. So, what is the free prediction for the NHL match for today?
