Utah Hockey Club vs. Toronto Maple Leafs Prediction, NHL Odds
-
Edgar Chaput
Don’t adjust your glasses or contact lenses. Today is Sunday and the Toronto Maple Leafs are at home in the evening. The times are indeed changing. Be that as it may, at least they’ve had three full days of rest after beating the Vegas Golden Knights 3-0 on Wednesday. Not so for the Utah Hockey Club, who play their third match in four nights, most recently on Saturday when they trounced the Pittsburgh Penguins 6-1.
Our NHL odds have Toronto as heavy moneyline favourites at -190, with Utah placed at +155.
Hockey Club vs. Maple Leafs NHL Betting Odds
It’s technically true that the Leafs have never played the Utah Hockey Club. Then again, Utah was the Arizona Coyotes not long ago. If we consider Coyotes-Maple Leafs head-to-head meetings, then Toronto earned the double over this group last season, winning home and away. Before then the opposition had strung together four successive wins.
Utah has earned itself a decent 11-9 record versus the puck line this season so far. Results in recent weeks have varied wildly. More often than not Utah has either trounced its opponents or the latter thumped them. They’re neither a great scoring side (2.75 goals per game, 21st league-wide) nor an amazing defensive one (3.20 goals against, 22nd), which comes with the territory with 8-9-3 straight up tally.
Yes, Leafs fans, your team is first in the Atlantic Division. The club has weathered the storm admirably during Auston Matthews’ absence. Word has it that he might be back in action this week, but certainly not Sunday night. Not only that but Toronto is an incredible 14-6 ATS. Today, however, is the first game with Matthew Knies (upper body). Max Domi (lower body) is also out.
Utah Hockey Club
Saturday was the best case scenario despite that a living legend earned a historic tally against Utah.
The Hockey Club was in Pittsburgh to face a flailing Penguins operation. Sidney Crosby netted his 600thcareer goal, which was the only blemish of an otherwise highly successful night for the visitors. Jack MacBain (sixth) got things started at 8:54 of the first when he slid home a shot that the Penguins’ goalie never saw coming after some quick passing around the net. Mikhail Sergachev (fifth) then doubled the advantage with a fine writers in the slot at 13:07.
Momentum could have shifted when the Pens halved the deficit in the middle frame, but Utah took advantage of a relatively weak side to make it 3-1 through Nick Bjugstad (fourth) on the power play through traffic. In the third it got to 4-1 thanks to Dylan Guenther (eighth, power play), 5-1 via Alexander Kerfoot (third), and Guenther again (ninth, power play) to add insult to injury.
Few doubt that the Leafs game will be tougher, especially on a back-to-back, so Utah had to take care of business versus a winnable opponent. Make the final 6-1.
Toronto Maple Leafs
After a series of back-to-back nights at the behest of the league schedule makers, the Maple Leafs get to breathe a little easier. They play tonight (Sunday), then Wednesday away to the Florida Panthers, with the Tampa Bay game coming three days after that (Saturday, Nov. 30).
Toronto will take it. Not only have they played a ton of hockey since the start of the campaign, but, as alluded to, they’re nursing plenty of wounds. Mitchell Marner has picked up the slack in light of the absentees, scoring two points in three consecutive matches and eight points in his past five contests. William Nylander has 10 points in his most recent nine. John Tavares has a quintet of points in the last three games. The big names have stepped up, no doubt about it.
The biggest revelation this season has been netminder Anthony Stolarz, who has earned a shining 2.18 goals against average (GAA) and .927 save percentage.
