A playoff team in the Eastern Conference will face another team looking to improve its chances of making the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs when the Tampa Bay Lightning travel to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to face the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena. The game is scheduled to start at 1:00 PM ET on Saturday afternoon and will air on ABC and ESPN+.

The Tampa Bay Lightning have secured a spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the seventh consecutive season. They enter this game with a record of 43-26-7 and 93 points, which gives them the sixth-best record in the Eastern Conference. 

Nikita Kucherov's play this season has played a pivotal role in the Lightning's success. It has a 3-point lead in the Art Ross Trophy race over Nathan MacKinnon with six games left to play in the regular season as he enters this matchup with 133 points. The Lightning have been one of the hottest teams in the NHL as they enter this game, having won 10 of their last 12 games and being on a two-game winning streak following a 7-4 win on the road against the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday. 

The teams have split the two meetings this season, with Tampa Bay winning the most recent contest by a score of 3-1 at home. The Tampa Bay Lightning will look to win the regular-season series when they travel to face the Pittsburgh Penguins for the third and final meeting this season. 

The Pittsburgh Penguins are still battling for a playoff spot in the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs. However, if the playoffs started today, the Penguins would miss the Playoffs as they trail the Philadelphia Flyers by 2 points for the final Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference. 

There is a five-team battle in the playoff race between the Philadelphia Flyers, Washington Capitals, Detroit Red Wings, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Buffalo Sabres. They are all separated by four points with six games left to play in the regular season. The Penguins have won six of the last ten meetings in the series, five of the previous six games, and a 4-2 win on the road in the first meeting this season. 

The Pittsburgh Penguins will look to win the regular season series against the Tampa Bay Lightning for the 3^rd consecutive season when they host the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday afternoon.

BetOnline has the Tampa Bay Lightning listed as -120 moneyline favorites on the road against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday afternoon. Pittsburgh has won the regular season series the previous two seasons and will be going for their 3^rd consecutive regular season series win with a win on Saturday afternoon. The Penguins have won five of the last six meetings in the series and have won by an average margin of 2.17 goals per game in the previous six contests.

Pittsburgh is vying for a spot in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs and will look to improve its chances with a win against Tampa Bay. The Penguins lost the most recent games in the series by a score of 1-3 on the road. However, Pittsburgh has won five of the previous six meetings and has won two straight home games in the series. As a result, I am taking the moneyline for the Pittsburgh Penguins when they host the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday afternoon.