The Toronto Maple Leafs hope to put their last outing quickly in the past. They came out flat against the Detroit Red Wings at Scotiabank Arena and were unable to recover. The Maple Leafs salvaged a point out of the deal, but it was a bad loss to take in overtime. Garret Sparks was between the pipes for that one and he got off to a bad start right from the start. With the Leafs’ offensive prowess, they are never out of games, though.
They’re always going to be within striking distance with the playmakers on their roster. William Nylander made his return to lineup against the Wings and his impact was nearly invisible. It isn’t realistic to expect immediate results from Nylander. When he gets his feet underneath him and warmed up, Nylander will be back to form. He was involved in a minor car accident with Kasperi Kapanen on Friday, but it didn’t appear to be anything serious, fortunately.
The Leafs are in Boston tonight for an Original 6 contest with the Bruins. They’ve had some history with the Bruins in the playoffs in recent memory. The most memorable a collapse by the Maple Leafs in the 3rd period of Game 7. They were up 4-1, but the Bruins tied it up at 4 with less than a minute left and the rest is history. The Maple Leafs have the better team now.
Though in the playoffs sometimes that goes out the window. We’ll see if we get another edition of the Leafs and Bruins come spring time. Toronto go into Saturday with a record of 20-8-1, while the Bruins are at 14-10-4. The Bruins may not reach the playoffs, but I do know that the Maple Leafs would not be happy to see them if they do meet again. Head below for our free Maple Leafs vs. Bruins pick.
Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Boston Bruins Pick
The Bruins welcome the Maple Leafs amid a three-game losing streak. It wasn’t the best losses either, against the Red Wings and Panthers. We can forgive them for losing to the Lightning in their most recent showing, though. The offence, which has been their Achilles this season, failed get a rhythm going. They managed just 4 goals in three games, setting their offence back even further.
We must go all the way back to November 11th to find the last game that the Bruins have scored more than 3 goals in a game. And in nine of ten games since, they’ve scored less than 3 goals. You need goal scorers to compete with the top teams in the NHL in this era, and the Bruins haven’t been able to get much going. Overall, the Bruins are 27th with 2.57 goals scored per game. In their last ten games, it’s been at an all-time low with just 1.6 goals per game.
Conversely, the Maple Leafs have notched 3.8 goals in their previous ten outings. The road hasn’t been a problem for them, as they’ve scored 4.14 goals per game on the road this season. That wasn’t the issue for them against the Red Wings, they got some goals. Sparks wasn’t up for the challenge in net, though. Frederik Andersen and his 2.32 GAA and 0.931 save percentage will be back in net to shoulder the load. Go with the Maple Leafs this evening, as it doesn’t look like the Bruins are going to have the numbers to keep up in this one.