Game 4 Maple Leafs vs. Blue Jackets Prediction: Stanley Cup Qualifier Odds
Stop me if you’ve heard this before. The Maple Leafs blew a three-goal lead in a playoff game to lose 4-3. Unfortunately, that was the storyline in game three, Now, on Friday night the Blue Jackets have the chance to advance to the next round with a win.
Maple Leafs vs. Blue Jackets NHL Playoff Odds
The Maple Leafs enter this elimination game as the -148 favourites to force a game five. They are underdogs at Sports Interaction to take the series paying +129. The Blue Jackets currently sit at -183 to win the series.
Stanley Cup futures wise, the Maple Leafs have dropped to +3300 to win the Cup. At the start of the post season, they were listed under 10/1 to win it all.
For the first time in three games these two teams went over the number, scoring seven goals in game three. Will that trend continue in game four?
Toronto Maple Leafs
The Maple Leafs opened the scoring for a second consecutive game and it came from an unsung hero. Defenceman Cody Ceci netted this first career post season goal. It was also the first career short-handed goal for Ceci.
In the 2nd period, the Maple Leafs continued to pour it on. First William Nylander potted his first of the post season. That was followed by 18 year old rookie Nick Robertson, playing in only his third NHL game, scored his first career NHL goal, making the score 3-0.
But cue the collapse. The Maple Leafs clearly took the foot off the gas and it cost them. The team only managed five shots on goal through the midway point of the 3rd and then only seven shots on goal in the overtime frame.
Missing in action was defenceman Jake Muzzin and it showed throughout the entire game. Outside of Muzzin, this lineup does not have a shutdown style of defenceman and the news won’t get any better for the club as Muzzin will miss the rest of this series.
Columbus Blue Jackets
It was a tale of two halves of hockey for the Blue Jackets on Thursday night. In the first period and a half, the Blue Jackets were flat and quickly watched the Maple Leafs get off to a 3-0 lead.
At the 11:08 mark of the 2nd period, Head Coach John Tortorella replaced Joonas Korpisalo (three goals on 15 shots) with Elvis Merzlikins.
The goaltending change seemed to spark the team as Pierre-Luc Dobois put the Blue Jackets on the board 4 minutes later. The Jackets continued to chip away at the Leafs led and sent the game to overtime.
Dobois, who was the odds on favourite at Sports Interaction to lead the Blue Jackets in qualifying round scoring, ended it, completing the hat trick, giving Columbus the game three win. It was the first hat trick in Blue Jackets playoff history.
TOR
CLB