Toronto Maple Leafs aim for 2-0 series lead with a win over Florida Panthers on Wednesday
The Maple Leafs stunned the Cats in game one of their second round series, giving Toronto their first second round lead in 23 years. The game was a battle with both sides looking to inflict as much pain as possible with Toronto receiving the worst of things as they lost starting goaltender Anthony Stolarz.
Game two will make for an exciting showcase as the Buds will look to exact revenge and seperate themselves further with a 2-0 series lead. Florida on the other hand, will look to even up the series before heading home.
For bettors, this matchup provides a chance to capitalize on some of our recent strong trends, like our 30-19 record on our last 49 picks, including perfect records during Game one and four of the Maple Leafs-Senators series.
All betting lines are from FanDuel Sportsbook and are subject to change. Hockey is a difficult sport to predict so please gamble responsibly.
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Toronto Maple Leafs vs Florida Panthers Best Bets:
- Under 5.5 goals (-104)
- Panthers ML (-142)
- Mitch Marner anytime goal (+280)
The Leafs are being asked to do something they've never done before while the Panthers are being asked just to stay the course and do what they do best which is win during the postseason.
The loss in game one was a tight one as the Leafs got out to an early lead and made sure to keep their foot on the gas long enough to get the win but it wasn't without bumps in the road.
Florida netminder Sergei Bobrovsky had a rare off night as he allowed several goals that could've been saved or prevented with better defence like Matthew Knies' breakaway goal.
With an early goal and several defensive breakdowns from the opponent, Toronto caught a break that many didn't expect and here's where some correction should come back.
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The five goals allowed was rare considering Bobrovsky's track record of a 8-4-0 record and a 2.36 goals against average over his last 12 starts versus Toronto.
The Russian goaltender should bounce back in this spot and I also expect Joseph Woll to chip in enough to keep this game low-scoring. Woll has a 2.12 goals against average and .924 save percentage in six career playoff starts.
There shouldn't be a ton of goals but one player I do expect to score is Mitch Marner. I've missed on the Toronto native a couple times as of late but he should be finally due in this spot. He's a new father and was looking for the back of the net in game one after finishing with four shots on net.
The team will be in desperate need of goals in this one as it will be very tight and Marner rides a six-game goal drought, which should make him overdue for a goal here.
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We get a tremendous value here for one of the Leafs top offensive players, who is playing on the team's top line with two other red hot forwards in Auston Matthews and Matthew Knies.
It's an easy slam dunk pick but if you wanna play it safe, taking Marner to get a point is a trustworthy pick at -245 odds and works as a decent parlay add.
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