Arizona Coyotes vs. Toronto Maple Leafs Prediction, NHL Odds
It is very rare to see an NHL team as a -527 favourite as Toronto is tonight. Totals of 7.0 goals are also pretty rare. The under is a slight favourite there.
Coyotes vs. Maple Leafs NHL Betting Odds
This is the first of two meetings between the teams with the Leafs going to Arizona on Dec. 29. Even though the Coyotes were terrible last season, they swept the season series. The one in Toronto was 5-4 in overtime. Defenceman Jakob Chychrun scored his second goal of the game at 2:17 of overtime. Chychrun scored the winner off a pass from Matias Maccelli after Toronto’s Auston Matthews felt he was interfered with on the backcheck. Matthews did have a goal.
The road team is 7-3 in the past 10 meetings.
Arizona Coyotes
I’ve been waiting for the Coyotes to officially name their goaltender tonight, but they haven’t done so yet. It probably will be Karel Vejmelka, who has started both losses so far and not been very good with a goals-against average of 5.54 and save per centage of .884. Arizona has a handful of guys out injured, led by forward Nick Schmaltz. He’ll miss 6-8 weeks with an upper-body injury. He was one of the Coyotes’ top forwards last season with 23 goals and 59 points in 63 games. Blueliner Conor Timmins is in question with his own upper-body injury. Defenceman Shayne Gostisbehere leads the team with three points (1G, 2A). The Coyotes are 17-36 in their past 53 road games.
Toronto Maple Leafs
The Leafs come off a 3-2 home win over Ottawa on Saturday. Justin Holl scored with 1:55 left and Ilya Samsonov stepped in to stop 25 shots. Samsonov got the call because Matt Murray was injured during the morning skate and will miss about four weeks. Erik Kallgren, who was knocked out of the Toronto Marlies’ AHL opener Friday night, was recalled and was the backup Saturday but will start this one. He is 8-4-1 with a 3.31 GAA and .888 SV in his NHL career. Centre William Nylander is dealing with an illness but expected to play. Nylander has two goals and one assist. Toronto is 1-4 in its past five after a win.
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