Toronto Maple Leafs vs. St. Louis Blues Prediction, NHL Odds
The Leafs may be without John Tavares again, but are still a -165 favourite on the NHL odds.
Maple Leafs vs. Blues NHL Betting Odds
Monday concludes the season series between the teams as St. Louis lost 4-1 in Toronto last Tuesday despite the Leafs playing without Mitch Marner, John Tavares and Morgan Rielly. Bobby McMann was the easy No. 1 star with his first career hat trick, the last on an empty net. William Nylander had the other goal. Ilya Samsonov had to make only 14 saves and probably starts again Monday. He’s 2-1-1 in four career starts against St. Louis with a 3.67 goals-against average and .856 save per centage. As he tries for a historic third straight hat trick, Auston Matthews has five goals in 13 career games vs. the Blues.
Alexey Toropchenko had the lone St. Louis goal in the first meeting to cut Toronto’s lead to 2-1 in the second. Jordan Binnington stopped 28 shots in the defeat and is 3-3-1 with a 4.28 GAA and .872 SV in seven career starts vs. the Leafs.
St. Louis is 6-4 in the past 10 meetings overall. The over-under is 5-5.
Toronto Maple Leafs
We projected the Leafs to beat visiting Anaheim 5-2 on Saturday, but they were much better than that in a 9-2 rout despite playing without John Tavares, who is day-to-day due to an undisclosed injury. Auston Matthews had his second straight hat trick to push his NHL-leading goals total to 48 and added two helpers for a career-high five points. Matthews broke a tie for the Toronto record for hat tricks in a season with six, passing Reg Noble (1917-18), Babe Dye (1924-25) and Darryl Sittler (1980-81). The American is the 10th NHL player with six hat tricks in a season and first since Mario Lemieux in 1995-96. It was the second time this season that Matthews had back-to-back hat tricks. The only other players in NHL history to do so twice in a season are Noble in 1917-18, Joe Malone in 1917-18, Mike Bossy in 1980-81 and Wayne Gretzky in 1983-84. The Leafs scored nine goals at home for the first time since Dec. 16, 2006, when they beat the Rangers 9-2. Blueliner William Lagesson left Saturday’s game with an injury but could play Monday. Fellow defenceman Morgan Rielly will remain out suspended. Toronto is 6-0 in its past six vs. the Western Conference.
St. Louis Blues
The Blues are 2-2 on their current four-game home stand after losing 5-2 to Nashville on Saturday as the Predators blew it open with three goals in the third period. Jordan Kryou (19th of season) and Nathan Walker (fifth) had the St. Louis goals. It’s not a particularly good offensive team, averaging 2.93 goals per game. Kryou and Robert Thomas lead the club with 19 goals, and Thomas does with 61 points and a plus-13 rating. The Aurora, Ontario native is a rising star at age 24. Jordan Binnington allowed four of the five goals to the Preds to fall to 19-15-2 with a 2.93 GAA and .908 SV. He’s the No. 1 guy, but it might be Joel Hofer’s turn Monday simply as Binnington has played in four straight and doesn’t have good career numbers vs. Toronto. Hofer is 10-8-0 with a 2.78 GAA and .915 SV and last played on Feb. 10, allowing one goal in a victory in Buffalo. The Blues are 4-2 in their past six Monday games.
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