Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Florida Panthers Game 3 Prediction, NHL Odds
Toronto is down 2-0 but a -130 favourite on the NHL odds for Game 3.
Maple Leafs vs. Panthers NHL Playoff Betting Odds
With Florida up 2-0, it is now -286 on the series line (was -109 entering Game 2) with Toronto +243 (was -103). On the series handicap, Panthers at +1.5 games is -1429 and Leafs at -1.5 games is +942. The over-under for total games is 5.5 with the over a -154 leader. That it finishes in seven is the +240 leader. The favoured exact series result is a Florida sweep at +291 and the long shot is Toronto winning the next four at +937.
Toronto won Game 3 in Tampa in the last round, 4-3 in overtime. Florida lost Game 3 of its series at home to Boston, 4-2.
The Leafs were 2-0 at Florida this season, winning 6-2 on March 23 and 2-1 in overtime (John Tavares goal) on April 10. Leafs No. 1 netminder Ilya Samsonov didn’t play the first but was in net the second.
Toronto Maple Leafs
Toronto came out flying in Game 2 to take a 2-0 lead on goals from Alexander Kerfoot (second of series) at 2:20 of the first and Ryan O’Reilly (third) at 5:10 but then couldn’t solve Sergei Bobrvosky again and continued to make costly mistakes. “Disappointing, baffling frankly,” coach Sheldon Keefe said. “We didn’t make those mistakes one time in the last series.” Morgan Rielly had an assist to extend his points streak to seven consecutive games, and Auston Matthews had one to extend his to eight games. Ilya Samsonov had 26 saves but allowed back-to-back goals 47 seconds apart early in the second period to cough up the lead. Good-looking rookie forward Matthew Knies left with an injury and is in question for Game 3. The Leafs have rallied only four times to win a series after trailing 2-0 and just once when those two defeats were at home: In 1942 when it historically rallied from down 3-0 vs. Detroit.
Florida Panthers
The Panthers have been the much more physical team in the series, and Sam Bennett was a wrecking ball by himself in Game 2, with a questionable hit that knocked Toronto’s Matthew Knies out of the game as well as a crosscheck on Michael Bunting. Anton Lundell’s first goal of the postseason at 11:13 of the first got Florida’s comeback started. Aleksander Barkov (second) tied it at 0:19 of the second, and Gustav Forling (second) had the game-winner at 1:06 of the second. Matthew Tkachuk had an assist on the game-winning goal to extend his point streak to six games, trailing only Dave Lowry in 1996 for the longest in franchise playoff history. Tkachuk’s 10 assists have tied a team playoff record. Sergei Bobrovsky extended his win streak to five with 34 saves. The streak is a playoff career high and his longest overall since Bobrovsky won six straight games from April 8-23, 2022. Thursday was just the fourth time ever that Florida overcame a multi-goal deficit to win in the postseason.
