Toronto Maple Leafs vs. New Jersey Devils Prediction, NHL Odds
Jack Campbell was chased from the net early on Monday, but a hat trick from Auston Matthews helped keep the Toronto Maple Leafs in the win column with a 6-4 home victory against the New Jersey Devils. The teams will now face off in New Jersey on Tuesday night to finish their home-and-home series.
Toronto is a -241 favourite to win on the NHL odds, with a total of 6.5.
Maple Leafs vs. Devils NHL Betting Odds
The Maple Leafs opened as -212 favourites, but the backing of 85 per cent of early Sports Interaction bettors has pushed the line to Toronto -241. The total of 6.5 has held steady, with 73 per cent of action taking the Under. Last night’s game was the third straight contest between these teams to hit the Over.
Toronto has now won six straight games against the Devils and they’re 4-1 straight up in their last five trips to New Jersey. The Leafs are just 17-24 against the spread overall this season, including 9-11 ATS on the road. The total has gone Over in eight of Toronto’s last 11 road games and five of their last six overall.
Last night’s defeat brought New Jersey’s losing streak to five games. They’re 21-23 ATS for the season, with covers in 11 of 23 home dates. The total has gone Over in four of the Devils’ last five games against Atlantic Division opponents.
Toronto Maple Leafs
There’s officially some concern about Campbell’s play in net. The 30-year-old goalie lasted less than 10 minutes on Monday, surrendering three goals on nine shots. With Petr Mrazek dealing with multiple injuries this season, Campbell has had a heavy workload and already has the most starts and games played of his career. Campbell has a solid 20-6-3 record with 2.35 goals-against average and .923 save percentage, but he’s now given up 16 goals over his last nine periods of play. The original plan was for Campbell to play Monday and Mrazek to get the start Tuesday, but it’s unclear if last night’s game will affect that. Mrazek stopped 19 of 20 shots on Monday, bringing his record to 5-2-0 on the year with a 2.94 GAA and .902 SV.
Some of the positives for Toronto on Monday include Matthews’ and Mitch Marner’s play. Matthews’ hat trick brings him to 28 goals on the year, fourth-most in the NHL. Marner finished with a goal and two assists to extend his scoring streak to six games. Jason Spezza and Ilya Mikheyev also scored, while Alexander Kerfoot and Morgan Reilly each recorded two assists.
New Jersey Devils
The Devils had chances to win last night, but blew two separate two-goal leads. New Jersey led 2-0 less than seven minutes into the game and also took a 4-2 lead into the third period, before surrendering four goals in the final frame. Pavel Zacha, Jesper Boqvist, Andreas Johnsson and Nathan Bastian had the goals for New Jersey. Rookie goaltender Akira Schmid allowed five goals on 32 shots. After four career NHL starts, the 21-year-old Swiss goalie is still looking for his first win. Akira is 0-4-0 with a brutal 5.00 GAA and .830 SV.
With Mackenzie Blackwood still out of the lineup because of a heel injury and Jonathan Bernier out for the year with a hip injury, Jon Gillies is expected to remain as the Devils’ starter for the time being and get the nod on Tuesday. Gillies is 1-5-0 this season with a 2.94 GAA and .904 SV.
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