Toronto Maple Leafs vs. New York Rangers Prediction, NHL Odds
The Maple Leafs escaped with a 4-3 win over Tampa Bay on Tuesday in a preview of their firs-round playoff clash with the Lightning, and have allowed just nine total goals while winning four of their past five contests. The Rangers return to action after dropping a 3-2 shootout decision to the visiting Buffalo Sabres on Monday night, but have picked up at least a point in 16 of their past 18 contests.
Despite earning the outright win in just three of their past seven contests, the Rangers have emerged as -130 home favourites on the Thursday NHL odds. The Leafs trail as +108 underdogs, and the total is listed at 6.5, with the UNDER sporting shortened -119 odds.
Maple Leafs vs. Rangers NHL Betting Odds
Thursday night’s regular season finale marks the third meeting of the campaign between these Original Six rivals. These teams split their first two clashes of the season, with each club recording a home win, capped by Toronto’s 3-2 overtime win on January 25. However, the Maple Leafs have failed to tally consecutive victories over New York while going a meagre 7-3 straight up in 10 dates, and have been limited to just five total goals while losing three straight in the Big Apple. Recent head-to-head date have tended to low scoring, with these teams combining to produce fewer than 5.0 goals three time during a 4-1 run for the UNDER.
Toronto Maple Leafs
While Tuesday’s visit to Tampa Bay was widely hyped as a sneak preview of the upcoming playoff series between divisional rivals, the Leafs elected to sit offensive stars Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews, and veteran rearguard Mark Giordano. Goaltender Ilya Samsonov also enjoyed a night off after shouldering a heavy workload down the stretch, and is expected to once again watch from the bench on Thursday. A larger assignment proved to be just what William Nylander needed, as the talented Swede snapped a late-season scoring slump. After recording just two points over his previous nine games, Nylander led the charge with a goal and two assists, while Ryan O’Reilly added a goal and a helper. However, netminder Joseph Woll was forced to turn aside 45 of 48 shots faced to steal the win. The club has now surrendered an average of 47 shots over their past two games, raising concerns about defence as the clock runs out on their regular season.
New York Rangers
The Rangers saw their hopes of a second-place finish in the Metropolitan Division standings dashed by New Jersey’s 6-2 victory over the Sabres on Tuesday, leaving the club with little to play for on Thursday, beyond preparing for their first-round playoff series with the Devils. That likely means a night off for goaltender Igor Shesterkin, who has started 11 of the team’s past 15 games and seven of eight on home ice. The possibility of stars like Artemi Panarin, Mika Zibanejad, Chris Kreider, and Vladimir Tarasenko seeing limited to no action opens the door for Rangers role players to make much needed offensive contributions. In addition to averaging just 2.67 goals per game over their past three outings, the Rangers have relied on the quartet of star shooters to generate almost half their goal scoring over the past five games. Accordingly, look for Thursday’s contest to be a low-scoring affair with whatever energy being generated on the ice coming from depth players aiming to justify bigger postseason assignments.
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