Thursday features a crucial matchup for playoff seeding when the visiting Florida Panthers travel to Toronto to take on the Maple Leafs with the Atlantic Division lead up for grabs.
For bettors, this matchup provides a chance to capitalize on some of our recent strong trends, like our 8-6 record on our last 14 picks and our 15-6 record on our last 21 underdog picks.
All betting lines are from Bet365 and are subject to change. Hockey is a difficult sport to predict so please gamble responsibly.
Florida Panthers vs Toronto Maple Leafs:
- Under 5.5 goals (+105)
- Maple Leafs +1.5 (-220)
Both teams are looking for a much-needed win as they gave up multi-goal leads in their last outings with the Panthers more recently blowing a 2-0 lead in the third period versus the Bruins on Tuesday. They now have to travel and play a Leafs team that could overthrow them as the top team in the Atlantic with a win at home.
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The Cats have allowed 16 goals over their last five road games and have dropped both of their previous two road games versus Toronto. The Maple Leafs have also struggled defensively with 28 goals allowed over their last seven games, which is fourth-most in the NHL during that span.
This game has an over written all over it yet the line is still down at 5.5 which means that something else is affecting the line and the sportsbooks know something. We should be seeing a line at 6.5 with each team's recent trends but it could result of their history against each other with fewer than six goals in eight of their last 12 matchups.
If we are continuing to go by history, the home team has won in this matchup five straight times and I would rather count on the Maple Leafs showing up rather than a Panthers team coming off a brutal loss like the one they took on Tuesday versus Boston.
TSN (@TSN_Sports) on X
THE FLORIDA PANTHERS HAVE ELIMINATED THE TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS IN 5 GAMES!
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The Cats have been red hot and are long overdue for a few losses plus Tuesday's game will be stop two of a six-game road trip that should make the Cats look more human starting with a loss on Thursday.