Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Tampa Bay Lightning Prediction, NHL Odds
The NHL returns from its Olympic break on Wednesday night with a busy slate. The disappointing Toronto Maple Leafs are in action and have to start winning immediately for any shot at the playoffs. They are +170 underdogs at Atlantic Division-leading Tampa Bay. The total is 6.5 on the NHL odds.
Maple Leafs vs. Lightning NHL Betting Odds
Note that this is the front end of a back-to-back for Toronto as it completes the Florida swing at two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Florida on Thursday. Sitting 12th in the Eastern Conference with 63 points, six out of the last wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, the Leafs are +330 underdogs to return to the post-season and -425 to miss.
As the franchise hasn’t missed out on extra hockey since 2017, with that nine-season run the longest active in the league, it is widely expected that second-year head coach Craig Berube will be fired if that happens. Some were moderately surprised it didn’t happen during the Olympic break, but the Leafs did enter that with some momentum.
Team captain Auston Matthews of course also was the captain of Team USA’s gold-medal winning club in the Italy Games – the first American gold in men’s hockey since the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” in Lake Placid, N.Y. Matthews finished tied for second on the team in points with seven.
Tampa Bay has no playoff worries and is neck-and-neck with Carolina for the most points in the East – both are five behind Colorado in the West for the Presidents’ Trophy. The Lightning are +200 East favourites and +500 second-favourites for the Stanley Cup.
Toronto Maple Leafs
Maybe the Olympic break came at a bad time for Toronto as it entered on a three-game winning streak, tied for its second-longest of this disappointing season. And those were all way – technically, the Leafs are still on a six-game trip. Toronto won the only meeting with the Lightning so far this season, 2-0 at home on Dec. 8 behind Dennis Hildeby’s first NHL shutout. He’s back in the minors these days. Morgan Rielly and Auston Matthews, into the empty net, scored for Toronto. But the team caught a major break in that Bolts star goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy was out.
Because Wednesday is the front of a back-to-back, it should be No. 1 Joseph Woll in net and then Anthony Stolarz on Thursday. The American Woll won his final two starts pre-break to improve to 6-4-2 on the road with a 2.88 GAA and .908 SV. Matthews comes out of the break with 26 goals, four shy of becoming just the sixth skater to record 10 consecutive 30-goal seasons from the start of their NHL career. Toronto is 7-1 in its past eight trips to Tampa.
Tampa Bay Lightning
The Lightning have two candidates for major awards in forward Nikita Kucherov and goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy. Kucherov is a +145 favourite barely over Edmonton’s Connor McDavid to win the Art Ross Trophy as the NHL’s leader in points. Kucherov is third with 91 points but has won the Art Ross each of the past two seasons. Vasilevskiy and the New York Islanders’ Ilya Sorokin are essentially in a dead-heat for the Vezina Trophy, which Vasilevskiy won in the 2018-19 campaign.
The Russian should be in there Wednesday and leads the NHL in GAA (2.11), is tied for first in wins (27) and second in save percentage (.920). Excellent centre Brayden Point has been out injured since mid-January but will return. Star blueliner Victor Hedman sustained a lower-body injury in the Olympics for Sweden but is also good to go. The Lightning have won 10 in a row at home (one outdoors at Raymond James Stadium).
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