Boston Bruins vs. Toronto Maple Leafs Prediction, Preview, Picks & Odds - 4/29/2022

Time: 7 p.m. ET

Venue: Scotiabank Arena, Toronto, ON

Where to watch: TVAS, TSN4, NESNplus

DraftKings: Maple Leafs -125, Bruins +105

BetMGM: Maple Leafs -125, Bruins +105

Caesars: Maple Leafs -125, Bruins +105

Bruins: 51-25-5

Maple Leafs: 53-21-7

The Toronto Maple Leafs have to ask themselves one important question on Friday: Do they want to play the Boston Bruins in Round 1, or the Tampa Bay Lightning? Because the decision made in that regard will go a way in determining who the Maple Leafs face in the first round when they host the Bruins on Friday in their final game of the season.

The breakdown is simple: The Bruins need to win and need the Lightning to lose in any fashion to clinch the No. 3 seed and put up one more rematch with the Maple Leafs in the first round. If Tampa Bay defeats the New York Islanders, it will be Tampa and Toronto.

Leafs fans are quivering at the thought of having to face the Bruins one more time, especially this time with home-ice advantage, given the fact that seven-games series with these two teams tend to just erupt like a volcano with a never-ending surplus of lava flowing from the side.

So if the Leafs are certain to want to avoid the Bruins and face the two-time defending Stanley Cup champs instead, which wouldn’t make sense for either party in that regard, then this game could dictate that very feeling.

Both teams are coming off shutout wins in their recent matchups. The Bruins closed their home slate this season with a 5-0 win against the Buffalo Sabres to extend their winning streak to four games. Those wins include the New York Rangers and the Presidents Trophy-winning Floriday Panthers at home.

The Bruins will be playing a back-to-back with travel involved, but the Bruins have to feel good knowing Linus Ullmark was the one to shut the door on Thursday, giving the way for Jeremy Swayman to face the Leafs on Friday. Patrice Bergeron had a hat trick and an assist to reach 400 career goals, and the second line of Taylor Hall and David Pastrnak contributed to the scoring, as well.

"Today's game is history. Now, we can only look forward," Ullmark said after his 39th start since leaving the Sabres to sign with the Bruins as a free agent in the offseason. "That was great [to get the shutout]. There's a lot of emotions obviously, playing your old team. It puts a lot of special feelings towards it. … Had to wait a full season, but like I said, I'm focused on what's to come now. The regular season doesn't mean anything once you get to the playoffs."

The Eastern Conference has provided us a lot of great competition, none more evident now knowing every single team has eclipsed 100 points this season. The fact we’re talking about a Bruins team that could potentially hit 109 points as a wild-card group is kind of crazy.

But what is to come of Toronto? How does this group really feel about the prospects of going up against Boston again? Would they rather play the Lightning when absolutely no one will count them out until they are officially eliminated? There are so many factors to this.

The one constant for the Leafs, however, is Mr. 60 himself. Auston Matthews scored twice in the 3-0 win against the Detroit Red Wings to reach 60 goals this season, becoming the first since Steven Stamkos to reach that marker when he did it in 2011-12.

"It's humbling," Matthews said after his group clinched second in the Atlantic with the win. "It's a big honor just to be in the same breath as those two guys (Stamkos and Ovechkin) and what they've been able to accomplish in their careers. I'm still striving to kind of be on that level still so there's a lot of work to be done but it's a big honor just to be in the same sentence as them."

This is the best Toronto team in a long time. Even when this group was getting to the playoffs and reaching Game Sevens, they weren’t as talented as this group. Nothing will be done until they finally get out of the first round, but no matter the opponent, that path will not be easy.

I truly don’t know what Toronto wants to do, and part of me thinks they really want to avoid Boston. The ghosts of playoff past do not envy Toronto in any regard, but I wonder if they want the challenge of trying to dethrone the champs and take out two birds with one stone. It’ll be something to behold, for sure. Maple Leafs win 3-2

Bruins are 7-5 revenging a home loss to the opponent this season.

Bruins are 71-49 against division opponents the past three seasons.

Maple Leafs are 54-54 the past three seasons after playing a home game.

Bruins:

Brad Marchand -- Patrice Bergeron -- Jake DeBrusk

Taylor Hall -- Erik Haula -- David Pastrnak

Trent Frederic -- Charlie Coyle -- Craig Smith

Nick Foligno -- Tomas Nosek -- Curtis Lazar

Hampus Lindholm -- Charlie McAvoy

Matt Grzelcyk -- Brandon Carlo

Derek Forbort -- Connor Clifton

Jeremy Swayman

Maple Leafs:

Alexander Kerfoot -- Auston Matthews -- Mitchell Marner

Ilya Mikheyev -- John Tavares -- Nicholas Robertson

William Nylander -- David Kampf -- Pierre Engvall

Nicholas Abruzzese -- Colin Blackwell -- Jason Spezza

Morgan Rielly -- Ilya Lyubushkin

Mark Giordano -- Timothy Liljegren

Jake Muzzin -- TJ Brodie

Jack Campbell

Points: Brad Marchand -- 80

Goals: David Pastrnak -- 40

Assists: Brad Marchand -- 48

Goalie: Jeremy Swayman -- 23-13-3, 2.37 GAA, .915 SV%

Points: Auston Matthews -- 106

Goals: Auston Matthews -- 60

Assists: Mitch Marner -- 62

Goalie: Jack Campbell -- 31-9-6, 2.64 GAA, .914 SV%