Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Nashville Predators Prediction, NHL Odds
The Toronto Maple Leafs are in Music City on Saturday night for a matchup against the Nashville Predators. Both teams are coming off Thursday night games, with the Leafs winning 3-2 at home against Carolina and the Predators falling 5-4 in Philadelphia.
Toronto is a slim -115 favourite to win on the NHL odds, with a total of 6.0.
Maple Leafs vs. Predators NHL Betting Odds
The Maple Leafs shut out the Preds 3-0 in Toronto on Nov. 21. Auston Matthews and David Kampf each had a goal and an assist, while Jack Campbell made 24 saves.
Toronto has done well against Nashville, winning six of the last eight head-to-heads. They haven’t been a great cover option this year, however, going 26-35 against the spread overall, including 13-17 ATS on the road. The total has gone Over in five of the Leafs’ last seven games.
Nashville has dropped four of their last five home games against Toronto. For the season, they’re a healthy 35-26 ATS, although they’re just 14-15 ATS at home. The total has gone Under in six of the Predators’ last seven home games.
Toronto Maple Leafs
Erik Kallgren continues to impress in net as his 34-save performance propelled Toronto to a second straight victory on Thursday. Ilya Mikheyev, Mitch Marner and Ondrej Kase had the Leafs’ goals. Kallgren was recalled from the AHL on March 10 because of Campbell’s rib injury and with Petr Mrazek struggling, he earned his first career start on Tuesday, stopping all 35 shots he faced.
Toronto will get a big boost to the lineup in Nashville with the return of Matthews, who served a two-game suspension for a cross-check in the Heritage Classic last week. Matthews leads the Leafs with 77 points and his NHL-best 45 goals is five more than the next closest player. Kallgren, a seventh-round draft pick by Arizona in 2015, will get his third career start on Saturday.
Nashville Predators
Filip Forsberg’s 210th career goal on Thursday tied Nashville’s all-time goals record, but it wasn’t enough to pull out a win in Philadelphia. Tanner Jeannot, Philippe Myers and Ryan Johansen also scored, while Roman Josi had three assists. Juuse Saros stopped 28 of 33 shots faced. Jeannot became the second Predators rookie to reach 20 goals, joining Forsberg in 2014-15. Josi’s team-high 72 points (17G, 55A) leads all NHL defencemen. Forsberg leads Nashville with 32 goals and has 56 points on the year.
Saros is expected to get the start again on Saturday. The 26-year-old Finn has a 29-19-3 record this season, with a 2.46 goals-against average and .923 save percentage. He’s 4-2-0 in his last six starts, allowing three total goals in the four wins, but 10 in the two losses.
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