The Leafs and Cats look primed to go under in goals along with other best bets in part one of the 7 P.M. games Thursday night
Thursday offers an exciting slate of NHL action starting at 7 P.M. with several matchups worth keeping an eye on for both hockey enthusiasts and sports bettors alike. Some of the intriguing matchups are the Broad street Bullies driving down Bay Street to take on the Maple Leafs, the Cats look to win both legs of a back-to-back against the Sabres and the Avalanche take on one of the league’s hottest teams in the Tampa Bay Lightning, who’ve won ten of their last 13 games.
It should be an exciting night of hockey and if you want to get in on all the action, here's a breakdown of the matchups with some insights for potential betting opportunities in part one of the 7 P.M. games.
All betting lines are from Bet365 and are subject to change. Please gamble responsibly.
Philadelphia Flyers @ Toronto Maple Leafs
The Buds are slight favourites in this one despite a slew of injuries that held stars Mitch Marner and John Taveres out of the lineup for their Tuesday night win over the Blues and will now add Morgan Reilly and possibly William Nylander to the inactive list, which leaves them not much in the way of firepower.
The lack of players on offense makes this feel like an unusual low-scoring game for the Leafs at home as the Flyers are expected to start netminder Samuel Ersson, who’s been great for them with a 2.49 goals against average on the season.
Pick: Maple Leafs under 3.5 goals (-150)
Anaheim Ducks @ Ottawa Senators
The Sens offense has been on fire as of late with the most goals per game with 3.82 on average tied with the Avalanche since mid-January. They shouldn’t have a hard time against a Ducks team that was seemingly finding their footing with wins in three of their last five games before losing a crippling 5-0 to the Habs on Tuesday.
It should be a bounce back for the Ducks where they remain close in this one but won’t be able to stop Drake Batherson from finding the scoresheet as he has ten points since the start of the new year and has points in each of his three career games versus the Ducks.
Pick: Drake Batherson over 0.5 points (-140)
Florida Panthers @ Buffalo Sabres
The Cats are coming into Buffalo on their second leg of a back-to-back as they handled the Penguins on Wednesday night with a 5-2 victory. The Sabres have picked up a lot of momentum however as they’ve won five of their last nine games. They’ve found their defensive game with a goals against average of 1.89 since mid-January that ranks first in the league during that span.
They are expected to start their red hot netminder in Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, who has the lowest goals against average in league since the start of the new year out of goalie’s who have started at least five games. He should play a factor and help the Sabres get a surprising stop on defense.
Pick: Panthers under 3.5 goals (-135)
Colorado Avalanche @ Tampa Bay Lightning
The Bolts come in as surprising favourites against the league’s top offense that averages 3.70 goals per game this season. Believe it or not, the Avs are a very different team when playing away from Ball Arena as they are outside the top ten with a 13-12-4 road record this season and a bottom seven defensive unit on the road that allows 3.52 goals per road game.
Both teams had impressive road wins on Tuesday with the Avalanche beating the Capitals 6-3 with four goals from the second period onward. They should ride the momentum of their win into this matchup and make this one exciting but on the defensive end and taking it to the under like they have in five of their last six matchups.
Pick: Under 6.5 goals (+115)