Florida Panthers vs Toronto Maple Leafs Prediction, Preview and Odds - 05/02/2023

Game Time: 7:00 pm ET, Tuesday, May 2, 2023

Venue:  Scotiabank Arena, Toronto, ON

Where to Watch:  ESPN

DraftKings:  Moneyline:  Panthers +130, Maple Leafs -150; Over/Under:  6.5 goals

Bet365:  Moneyline:  Panthers +130, Maple Leafs -150; Over/Under:  6.5 goals

BetMGM:  Moneyline:  Panthers +130, Maple Leafs -150; Over/Under:  6.5 goals

Florida Panthers:  42-32-8 (4th place, Atlantic Division)

Toronto Maple Leafs:  50-21-11 (2nd place, Atlantic Division)

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Florida Panthers:  5-4-1 last 10

Toronto Maple Leafs:  8-2-0 last 10

The Panthers are entering this game finishing the regular season with 92 points, a 42-32-8 record overall, and they were 19-19-3 in their road games this season where they will be in this game. They are entering this game on a 3 game winning streak with all 3 wins coming against the Boston Bruins in their last 3 games, winning that last one on the road 4-3 in overtime. Brandon Montour scored 2 goals while Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Reinhart each scored 1 goal in that game. Anton Lundell led the team in assists with 2 while Brandon Montour led the team in shots on net in that game with 6. Sergei Bobrovsky was the starting goalie in that game and he allowed 3 goals on 36 shots with 33 saves and a .917 sv percentage. Their offense has scored 266 goals this season averaging 3.2 goals per game and their defense has allowed their opponents to score 213 goals against them allowing 2.6 goals per game.

The Maple Leafs are entering this game finishing the regular season with 111 points, a 50-21-11 record overall, and they were 27-8-6 in their home games this regular season where they will be in this game. They are entering this game off of a win against the Tampa Bay Lightning in their last game, winning that last one on the road 2-1 in OT. Auston Matthews and John Tavares each scored 1 goal in that game. T. J. Brodie, Matthew Knies, and Morgan Rielly each led the team in assists with 1 while Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, and William Nylander each led the team in shots on net in that game with 3. Ilya Samsonov was the starting goalie in that game and he allowed 1 goal on 32 shots with 31 saves and a .969 sv percentage. Their offense has scored 279 goals this season averaging 3.4 goals per game and their defense has allowed their opponents to score 222 goals against them allowing 2.7 goals per game.

The current betting odds have the Panthers listed as an underdog in this game according to Draftkings Sportsbook. This is game 1 of a 7-game series between the Panthers and the Leafs for the 2nd round of the NHL Eastern Conference playoffs. The Leafs have had a bit more rest for this game as they ended their series against the Lightning in 6 games while the Panthers had to go 7 games in their series to advance, but the Panthers also won their series against the beat team in the entire NHL, the Boston Bruins, who set many records this year with the season they had. The Leafs looked really good in their series against the Lightning but they did lose the 1st game of that series at home where they will be in this game 1 of this series and the Panthers are going to be riding a ton of momentum after knocking the best team in the NHL out of the playoffs and winning the last 3 games in a row to do it. The Panthers also had a very good record against division opponents this season and after beating the Bruins 4 times in the last round, there will be no team that intimidates this physical group of players the Panthers have. The best way to place a bet here is on the Panthers to win this game and take a 1-0 series lead here.

Panthers Maple Leafs Prediction:  Our NHL Pick for Tuesday, May 2, 2023 (7:00 pm ET start time) is Panthers 5 Leafs 4.

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Florida Panthers: 21-12 (+10.8 units) on the moneyline vs. division opponents. 7-1 (+8.9 units) on the moneyline after allowing 3 goals or more in 5 straight games. 28-13 OVER revenging a loss versus opponent. 35-16 OVER after a close win by 1 goal in their previous game. 

Toronto Maple Leafs: 24-19 (-13.4 units) on the moneyline after 1 or more consecutive unders. 28-25 (-19.5 units) on the moneyline off a win or tie in their previous game. 12-5 OVER after 2 or more consecutive unders. 10-4 OVER after playing a game where 4 or fewer total goals were scored.

Florida Panthers:  N. Cousins (C) day-to-day - Upper Body. R. Lomberg (LW) Mid May - Upper Body. S. Knight (G) Out indefinitely - Personal. P. Hornqvist (RW) out for season - Concussion.

Toronto Maple Leafs:  V. Mete (D) Mid May - Lower Body. M. Murray (G) Out indefinitely - Head. B. McMann (C) Out indefinitely - Knee. J. Muzzin (D) out for season - Neck. N. Robertson (LW) out for season - Shoulder.

“I don’t think you can find a harder team to play against than the Boston Bruins. They will test you. The players here now have a shared experience of what hard is. … It will make us better for five years. That’s how hard it was.” - Paul Maurice after his team’s win against the Bruins in their game on Sunday which ended the series 4-3, game 7 of that series.

“Today is a significant step, but we're not going to celebrate anything beyond. There's a lot of work ahead. ... I feel like the best is yet to come.” - Sheldon Keefe after his team’s win against the Lightning in their game on Saturday which ended the series 4-2, game 6 of that series.

LW Verhaeghe, Carter

C Barkov, Aleksander

RW Duclair, Anthony

LD Forsling, Gustav

RD Ekblad, Aaron

G Bobrovsky, Sergei

LW Knies, Matthew

C Matthews, Auston

RW Nylander, William

LD McCabe, Jake

RD Brodie, TJ

G Samsonov, Ilya

Points: M. Tkachuk (109)

Goals: C. Verhaeghe (42)

Assists: M. Tkachuk (69)

GAA: A. Lyon (2.89)

Points: M. Marner (99)

Goals: W. Nylander (40)

Assists: M. Marner (69)

GAA: J. Alexander (0.00)

Coaches:

Florida Panthers: Paul Maurice (1st season)

Toronto Maple Leafs: Sheldon Keefe (4th season)