Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Toronto Maple Leafs Game 5 Prediction, Odds
The Maple Leafs are up 3-1 in their first-round Eastern Conference series vs. the Tampa Bay Lightning and are -156 home favourites on the NHL odds for Game 5 Thursday.
Lightning vs. Leafs NHL Playoffs Betting Odds
With Toronto leading 3-1, the Leafs are -1667 on the updated series line (were -357) and the Lightning +1025 (were +299). On the series handicap, Toronto at -1.5 games is -400 and Tampa Bay +1.5 is +329. That the series finishes Thursday is -145, and both Game 6 and 7 are +348. The favoured exact result is Toronto in five at -143. Tampa Bay in seven is +783.
A reminder that the Lightning rallied from 2-1 and 3-2 series deficits in 2022 to beat Toronto in the first round in seven games. Tampa Bay has won 11 of its past 12 playoff series as the three-time Eastern Conference champion. Since winning Game 7 of the 2004 conference quarterfinals against the Senators, the Maple Leafs have lost 10 straight playoff games with a chance to clinch a series.
Tampa Bay Lightning
We told you entering this series the former Conn Smythe Trophy winner and future Hall of Famer Andrei Vasilevskiy didn’t have a season up to his very high standards, and he blew a 4-1 third-period home lead in Game 4 on Monday in a 5-4 OT loss. The Lightning certainly aren’t benching Vasilevskiy for Brian Elliott, and the team acknowledges it needs to better job on screeners and deflections. Three of the five goals scored by Toronto in Game 4 came off deflections. So did one of the four goals in Game 3. “I think the onus is on the guys in front of him to try and be a little bit better,” Coach Jon Cooper said. Alex Killorn led the Lightning with two goals in Game 4, while Nikita Kucherov and Victor Hedman each had two assists. Defenceman Erik Cernak has missed the past four and is day-to-day. The Lightning are 2-7 in their past nine games.
Toronto Maple Leafs
Winger Michael Bunting is eligible to return from a three-game suspension on Thursday but might have lost his spot to rising rookie Matthew Knies. Auston Matthews had two third-period goals on Monday to cut Tampa’s lead to 4-3, and Morgan Rielly’s second goal of the series tied it 4-4. Alexander Kerfoot’s first goal of the series at 4:14 of OT on the power play won it. It was the fourth three-goal comeback win in franchise playoff history. Mitchell Marner had two assists and has 10 points already, joining Darryl Sittler in 1977 as the only players in Leafs history with a double-digit point total through four games in a playoff year. This is the 14th time the Maple Leafs lead a series 3-1. They are 11-2 in the previous 13 series and won Game 5 in seven. Toronto is 7-1 in its past eight games overall.
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