Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Florida Panthers Game 6 Prediction, NHL Playoff Odds
There are very few times you can point to a single game and say “that’s the end of that group playing together”, but we might have seen it in Toronto’s embarrassing 6-1 Game 5 loss against the Panthers on Wednesday night. Heading to Florida down 3-2 in the series, it’s officially must-win territory for the Leafs, while the Panthers have a shot to reach their third straight Eastern Conference Final.
Florida opened as a heavy -250 favourite to win Game 6 on the NHL odds, with the total pegged at 5.5.
Maple Leafs vs. Panthers NHL Betting Odds
Three straight Panthers victories has completely turned the tide of this series. It’s perfect timing for Florida to be returning home as they are 13-3 straight up in their last 16 games in Sunrise and they’ve won six straight home games against Toronto.
The Panthers enter Game 6 as heavy -800 favourites to win the series on the NHL futures board, while the Leafs are +550 underdogs. If you’re looking for context on how badly Toronto has choked, they were listed at -210 on the series line ahead of Game 3 and Florida was at +170.
To pat ourselves on the back, we circled Sergei Bobrovsky to record 30-plus saves in any game of the series before Game 5 and he immediately cashed it, so we’re going back to the player props well. Matthew Tkachuk has points in four of five games this series, but he hasn’t lit the lamp yet. We like Tkachuk to breakthrough and score an anytime goal in Game 6 at +175.
For those of you looking for a futures play, the Panthers are listed at +375 to win the Stanley Cup, trailing only Edmonton and Dallas who are both +275. The Maple Leafs are +2200 to win the Cup, ahead of only Winnipeg (+4500) and Washington (+10,000), who could both be eliminated on Thursday.
Toronto Maple Leafs
Normally I would say ‘catastrophic’ is a sensationalized way of describing a loss, but that’s not the case for Toronto in Game 5. The Leafs absolutely had the doors blown off them and managed just one meaningless Nick Robertson goal with just over a minute left in the game. What really makes the game a disaster is the poor play of the star players, outside of William Nylander. Auston Matthews doesn’t have a goal in the series and Mitch Marner had some absolutely brutal turnovers, one of which ended up in the back of Toronto’s net.
It’s hard to judge Joseph Woll’s performance on Wednesday because the team was so bad in front of him. Woll, who gave up five goals on 25 shots before he was pulled in the third period, allowed pucks in the net that he should have been able to stop, but he was also left out to dry the whole game. Matt Murray allowed one goal on seven shots faced in relief and is expected to back up Woll again for Game 6. Head coach Craig Berube was noncommittal if Anthony Stolarz would even travel to Florida, so it’s Woll’s net for better or worse.
Florida Panthers
The Panthers once again spread the wealth in Game 5, with six different players finding the back of the net. It’s a strategy that has been hugely successful through two rounds of the playoffs. In fact, Florida is the first team to have 17 players score a goal through the first 10 games of the playoffs since the 1993 L.A. Kings. Contributions from throughout the lineup have been key. Sam Reinhart leads the team with 10 points (3G, 7A), and the Panthers also have eight players who have recorded eight or more points and seven who have three or more goals.
Florida’s offence exploded on Wednesday, but you also have to talk about Sergei Bobrovsky in net, who was 66 seconds way from becoming the first Panthers goalie to record back-to-back playoff shutouts. After allowing 13 total goals between Games 1 and 3, Bobrvosky has shut the door over the last two games, stopping 54 of 55 shots faced for a .982 save percentage while posting a shutout streak of 143 minutes and 25 seconds between the third period of Game 3 and the end of Game 5. The 36-year-old has been so impressive, he’s actually rocketed up the Conn Smythe Trophy odds to a tempting +1200.
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