Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Toronto Maple Leafs Prediction, NHL Odds

Jordan Ramsay | Updated Jan 20, 2025

NHL: Tampa Bay Lightning at Toronto Maple Leafs

It's a potential playoff preview on Monday night as the Toronto Maple Leafs play host to the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Tampa Bay
31-20-3-1
AT
January 20, 2025, 7:30 PM ET
Scotiabank Arena
Toronto
33-20-2
Puckline +1.5 -250
Moneyline +115
Over / Under o +6
Puckline -1.5 +190
Moneyline -135
Over / Under u +6

Toronto and Tampa Bay are both coming off strong victories on Saturday night. The Lightning dominated Detroit from that start, cruising to a 5-1 victory. The Maple Leafs, on the other hand, rallied from a 3-0 first period deficit in Montreal to score seven unanswered goals in a 7-3 win.

This game is sitting as a pick’em on the NHL odds, with the total pegged at 6.0.

Lightning vs. Maple Leafs NHL Betting Odds

This is the third of four regular season meetings between the teams this year. Toronto won both previous games, 5-2 at home in late October and 5-3 on the road in late November.

The Eastern Conference standings are incredibly tight at the moment, so anything can change, but at the moment there’s a real possibility these teams will meet in the first round of the playoffs. They’ve met in the first round in two of the last three years, with Tampa winning in seven games in 2022 and Toronto winning in six in 2023.

One concern for the Lightning right now is their recent play on the road as they have dropped five of their last six games outside of Tampa Bay. That suits the Buds just fine as they’ve won seven of their last 10 games overall and seven of their last eight against Eastern Conference opponents.

Both teams have been strong against the spread this season. Tampa is 24-20 ATS, including 12-10 ATS on the road. Toronto is 25-22 ATS, including 14-13 ATS at home.

While lower scoring games have been a trend for each team this year, they generally combine to produce higher scoring games in head-to-head action. Four of the last five head-to-heads have hit the Over, including both previous meeting this season.

Tampa Bay Lightning

Nikita Kucherov and Jake Guentzel led the way for the Bolts over Detroit on Saturday, with each player recording a goal and two assists. Kucherov is now up to third in NHL scoring with 68 points (21G, 47A) in 42 games. Darren Raddysh, Mitchell Chaffee and Brayden Point also scored. Point is now second in the NHL with 27 goals on the year. Andrei Vasilevskiy turned aside 39 of 40 shots faced.

Vasilevskiy is the likely starter against Toronto. He’s coming off one of his strongest performances of the year as Saturday’s game was just the second time this season he has faced at least 40 shots. Through eight appearances in January, Vasilevskiy is 4-3-1 while stopping 212 of 230 shots faced (.922 save percentage).

Toronto Maple Leafs

Toronto used seven different goal scorers to get past Montreal on Saturday, including some of the big guns in Auston Matthews and William Nylander. The Leafs were completely outplayed in the first period and they didn’t take the lead until early in the third. Matthews actually completed a goalscoring feat that was new to him as he notched his first career NHL short-handed goal. Toronto’s captain has scored in three straight games and seven of his last 10.

Joseph Woll was spectacular over the last two periods in Montreal, including a couple of diving saves in the third that kept the Leafs’ lead alive. If Woll starts his 24th game of the season on Monday, which is expected, it will mark a new career-high. He’s been hot lately, winning his last two games while stopping 53 of 59 shots faced in that span. Overall, Woll has a 16-8-0 record with a 2.68 goals-against average, .907 SV and one shutout.

NHL Prediction: Who Will Win Lightning vs. Maple Leafs?

SportsInteraction