Florida Panthers vs. Toronto Maple Leafs: Prediction, Preview, Picks & Odds - 1/17/2023

Time: 7 p.m. ET

Venue: Scotiabank Arena, Toronto, ON

Where to watch: TVAS, SNO, BSFL

DraftKings: Maple Leafs -165, Panthers +140

FanDuel: Maple Leafs -182, Panthers +150

BetMGM: Maple Leafs -165, Panthers +140

Caesars: Maple Leafs -169, Panthers +143

Panthers: 21-20-4

Maple Leafs: 26-11-7

Panthers: won 4-1 at Sabres

Maple Leafs: lost 4-3 at Bruins

The Florida Panthers are looking for their third straight win, but will be playing the second night of a back-to-back on Tuesday when they visit the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena.

 

The Panthers are coming off a 4-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Monday in what might have been one of the more impressive defensive performances for the Panthers this season, slowing down the high-powered Sabres offensive attack. Sergei Bobrovsky made 28 saves, and Matthew Tkachuk had three assists to help the Panthers, who are four points behind the Pittsburgh Penguins for the second wild card spot.

 

"It was solid from the start," said Tkachuk, who is on a seven-game point streak. "I think the first 10 minutes were awesome. Let off the gas a little bit at the end of the first and tried trading chances, kind of just played into their style a little bit more than ours and immediately we recognized that's not the way we're going to have success."

 

The Panthers’ run of three wins in four games has given them a stretch of 6-4 on the money line in the last 10. They’ve been giving up a lot of goals as of late, but Bobrovsky came up huge for a tremendous number of times in this game. The only goal came from Alex Tuch, and it was unassisted. Tage Thompson was quiet, the other goal scorers were quiet. That’s how big of a day it was.

 

"It's his first run of the year where he's getting a bunch of games and he's into a good rhythm," Florida coach Paul Maurice said of Bobrovsky. "We need that kind of goaltending. He's battling in the net. He's a little bit acrobatic but he's intense, and the guys like that. It looks good from the bench, he's making big saves. Everybody is kind of rallying around him."

 

The Maple Leafs are trying to avoid a three-game losing streak after winning their previous three. Toronto is coming off a 4-3 loss to the Boston Bruins at TD Garden on Saturday. Toronto has dropped to 5-4-1 in their last 10 and are clinging to second place in the Atlantic with the Tampa Bay Lightning closing in while they’re on a four-game winning streak.

 

Auston Matthews scored in his return to the lineup after missing two games with an injury, and Mitch Marner had two assists for the Maple Leafs.

 

"We can play with any team in the League," Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said. "At the same time, you can't beat yourself when you're playing any team in the League, for that matter, but a team of this caliber [in Boston], you can't give them freebies, and we did. … You have to learn these lessons sometimes the hard way, and you like to think our group is past some of these things, but clearly not."

 

Toronto has seen the under cash in four of the last six, which puts an interesting spin on what the Maple Leafs are trying to do. Clearly they need to score goals to win. How far they can turn that into wins is the unknown, but clearly something is hampering Matthews.

 

"That was honestly a pretty good hockey game," Matthews said. "Two pretty good teams, it was tight the whole way through, and obviously they get one at the end there, and that's enough for them. I thought we did a lot of good things tonight. Close game, could have probably went either way."

 

If Spencer Knight is still not available, it’s going to be Alex Lyon’s net likely in this one. Unless they want to roll Bobrovksy if they think he’s rested enough, but I think you have to go with Lyon. Given that, I think this is a chance for Toronto get off the slide. Maple Leafs 5, Panthers 3

Panthers are 4-8 when playing a second game in five days this season.

Panthers are 9-15 on the road where the total is 6 or more this season.

Maple Leafs are 22-9 after allowing 4 goals or more to a division opponent in a loss since 1996.

Anton Lundell -- Aleksander Barkov -- Sam Reinhart

Carter Verhaeghe -- Sam Bennett -- Matthew Tkachuk

Eetu Luostarinen -- Eric Staal -- Nick Cousins

Ryan Lomberg -- Colin White -- Givani Smith

Gustav Forsling -- Aaron Ekblad

Marc Staal -- Brandon Montour

Josh Mahura -- Radko Gudas

Alex Lyon

Michael Bunting -- Auston Matthews -- William Nylander

Calle Jarnkrok -- John Tavares -- Mitchell Marner

Zach Aston-Reese -- David Kampf -- Pierre Engvall

Dryden Hunt -- Alexander Kerfoot -- Wayne Simmonds

Morgan Rielly -- Conor Timmins

Mark Giordano -- Justin Holl

Rasmus Sandin -- Timothy Liljegren

Matt Murray