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Edgar Chaput
Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Columbus Blue Jackets Prediction, NHL Odds
That’s correct. For the second time in seven days, the Leafs are in Columbus to face the Jackets. It was last Saturday that Toronto skated to a 4-1 win over the hosts. Since then, there was the NHL’s Christmas break, after which the Leafs hosted and lost to the Senators 4-2 on Wednesday. The Blue Jackets were in New Jersey on the same night and fell 4-3 in overtime.
Check the NHL odds as they develop.
Maple Leafs vs. Blue Jackets NHL Betting Odds
It’s late December and since the start of the month, there’s already been plenty of history between these sides. They met in Toronto a fortnight ago in a wild game. The Blue Jackets won 6-5 in OT, but that was after coughing up a 5-0 advantage. As we just established, Toronto paid them back last Saturday 4-1, making this a December rubber match. Odd scheduling, to say the least.
We’ve written ad nauseam about the Leafs’ struggles versus the puckline this season, and Wednesday’s defeat to the Senators only worsened their record to 9-21. For a change of pace, let’s consider that Toronto is a respectable 8-3-4 away from home. In December they went 3-1-1 on the road and have scored at least three goals every time. Auston Matthews is on an absolute tear, scoring in eight of the team’s last 10 games, earning a brace in six of them.
Columbus is paying dividends for betters, though. They’re an incredible 22-14 ATS, having covered three of the previous four opportunities. The loss? Against Toronto. Memories of the 9-4 spanking they gave the Sabres are fading, as the club has fallen thrice in a row since. We’ll repeat what we wrote for last Saturday’s contest. The Jackets are terrible defensively, giving up 3.64 goals a night. That’s great news for the Leafs’ snipers, as it proved to be six nights ago.
Toronto Maple Leafs
The Maple Leafs are experiencing rocky waters. These games against Columbus – even though they lost the first one – are arguably coming at the right time. Toronto needs all the wins it can get to keep pace with Boston and Florida in the Atlantic Division.
They’ll no doubt take another two points against the Jackets, but that would make it only their second win in five games, both against the same, low-level squad. On Wednesday they hosted the Senators, a rival they traditionally love playing. It started promisingly, with Toronto racing out to a 2-0 lead. Matthew Knies (eight) tipped an Auston Matthews shot from distance and Tyler Bertuzzi (sixth) punched one in from close. Everything changed in the middle frame, while on the power play no less. That’s when Ottawa got one back and nearly another. The winds changed direction and never favoured the Leafs again. The Sens would tie it in the second and eventually get the winner through a bizarre Drake Batherson (13th) goal. He shot from a super sharp angle along the goalline and the puck found the tiniest seem over Martin Jones and flopped into the net. An empty netter made it 4-2 for the Senators.
Columbus Blue Jackets
Columbus put up a heck of a fight on the road against the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday night. But bad teams are who they are for a multitude of reasons. Poor play, mediocre concentration, and oftentimes an inability to preserve leads.
The Blue Jackets held not one, not two, but three distinct leads versus their opponents. Jake Bean (second) blasted a rebound in the first period to make it 1-0, Justin Danforth (ninth) scored in the second to make it 2-1, and Yegor Chinakhov (10th) performed a brilliant hustle play off a turnover to make it 3-2 with only two and a half minutes left. But Jack Hughes would not be denied before the game was over, nor would Timo Meier in OT, thus the 4-3 defeat. The offence was good, but Columbus’ very leaky defence did them in once again.