Ottawa Senators vs. Toronto Maple Leafs Prediction, NHL Odds
The Battle of Ontario is renewed on Saturday night out of the Christmas break as the Ottawa Senators visit the Toronto Maple Leafs, who are short underdogs on the NHL odds with a total of 6.5 goals in their first meeting of the season.
Senators vs. Maple Leafs NHL Betting Odds
It’s a bit unusual that we are nearly into January and these rivals haven’t played each other yet. Saturday is the first of four meetings, and they won’t see each other again until Feb. 28 also at Scotiabank Arena. Ottawa hosts on March 21 and the regular-season finale on April 15. That could be very important for playoff positioning – or just simply making it into the Eastern Conference field.
The massively disappointing Maple Leafs are not close to a playoff team right now sitting second-to-last in the conference and with a minus-9 goal differential. Toronto is +270 for the post-season and -340 to miss for the first time since the 2015-16 campaign. Ottawa sits one point out of the East’s final Wild-Card spot and is -165 for extra hockey with no at +140.
The Senators swept the 2024-25 regular-season series 3-0, each pretty low scoring. Then of course the clubs met in a memorable first-round playoff series with the Leafs prevailing in six. They went 2-1 at home in the series. Anthony Stolarz was in net for each game but remains out this season injured. Linus Ullmark started each for the Senators and likely in there Saturday.
Ottawa is 7-3 in the past 10 regular-season matchups and the over-under is 5-4-1.
Ottawa Senators
Ottawa’s season-high four-game winning streak was snapped Tuesday in a 3-2 home overtime loss to Buffalo – which has had the Senators’ number of late. Ridly Greig (third of season) and Tim Stutzle (18th) had the goals with Stutzle’s tying it 2-2 at 9:27 of the second. But Bowen Byrum won it at 0:31 of OT. Stutzle now has an eight-game points streak, the second longest of his career behind a 14-game run last season (Jan. 25 – March 8). He has seven goals and 15 points in that stretch. That was Greig’s first goal since Nov. 15 to end a 14-game drought. Linus Ullmark stopped 22 shots to fall to 14-8-5 with a 2.86 GAA and .884 SV. He should be in there again Saturday, although I am seeing some sites listing Leevi Merilainen as the guy. He’s a downgrade. Blueliner Tyler Kleven (five assists) has missed two straight with a lower-body injury. The Sens are 10-7-2 on the road. The over is 6-2 in their past eight away.
Toronto Maple Leafs
Toronto returned home Tuesday on a three-game skid but played well in a 6-3 win over Pittsburgh as the offence woke up in the team’s first game since the firing of assistant coach Marc Savard. His duties included running the team’s power play, which entered that game sitting last in the NHL at 13.3 per cent. Assistant Derek Lalonde is now in charge of that. The unit didn’t improve in going 0-for-2, but the
offence looked better overall in scoring its most goals since Nov. 29 – also vs. the Penguins. Max Domi scored the winner with 8:25 remaining to snap a 23-game goalless streak and added an assist. William Nylander was the No. 1 star with two goals and two assists. It was his fourth career four-point game thanks to multiple points in the first and third periods. Nylander tied Syl Apps and Doug Gilmour (both with 64) for the 10th-most multi-point periods in franchise history. Toronto’s defence got a major boost as Chris Tanev returned from an injury that kept him out since Nov. 1. Joseph Woll stopped 29 of 32 shots to improve to 3-0-1 at home with a 2.42 GAA and .922 SV. He should start Saturday. In this one, Auston Matthews needs a goal to break a four-way tie and claim sole possession of the sixth-most goals against the Senators. Matthews currently has 25. Jaromir Jagr holds the all-time mark of 44.
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