by Chuck Sommers
Wednesday, Jan 11, 2023
Time: 7:30 p.m. ET
Venue: Scotiabank Arena, Toronto, ON
Where to watch: TNT
Opening Odds at USA Sportsbooks
DraftKings: Maple Leafs -190, Predators +160
FanDuel: Maple Leafs -200, Predators +164
BetMGM: Maple Leafs -200, Predators +165
Caesars: NL
Season record
Predators: 19-14-6
Maple Leafs: 25-9-7
We’ve hit the halfway mark in the NHL season. Yes, you read that right. We’re really hit that halfway mark that quickly. If you blinked, you probably missed a lot of good things happen in the hockey world. And with football about to be out of the way, look for our champion handicappers to get back on the rink. Oskeim Sports is on a 13-5-0 run in the NHL over the last 30 days, as is Will Rogers. Sean Murphy has also cashed in with a 16-10-0 run in the last month. Make sure you’re following our champion handicappers at bigal.com to get on this winning action!
Predators - Maple Leafs preview, prediction and analysis
Recent results
Predators: won 3-0 at Senators
Maple Leafs: won 6-2 at Flyers
The Nashville Predators are doing that thing again where they’re streaking at a good time. The Predators will take a four-game winning streak into Toronto on Wednesday to take on the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena.
The Predators are coming off a 3-0 win at the Ottawa Senators and have been pulling off some quality wins on this road trip against Carolina, Washington and then Ottawa. The one constant behind all of this has been goalie Juuse Saros. After a 64-save masterpiece against Carolina, he responded last game out with a 38-save shutout in Ottawa.
"We didn't let him have 60-plus [shots] this game, so that made it a little easier on him, and then he stopped all of them," Predators forward Filip Forsberg said. "We've just got to try and keep it around 30 [shots against] and he'll be good."
He probably says that jokingly, but Saros is a brick wall right now. The Predators still find themselves outside the playoff picture at the moment, but if Nashville has found a formula with Saros in a groove and Forsberg scoring at the rate he is — he scored his 16th goal of the year against Ottawa — then Nashville may be a sneaky team in the halfway mark of the Central Division.
The Maple Leafs have won two straight coming into this game and are coming off a 6-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers. Six different players scored in the win over Jacksonville, but the hottest player in the Toronto club right now has been Mitch Marner. The other electrifying forward has eight points in his last five games, six of them on assists. Three of them came against Philadelphia in the win.
Not a bad answer after coming off a 4-1 win at home against Detroit the other night.
"I thought our start was really good," Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said. "We made good on a lot of our chances and obviously scored a bunch of goals, and that put us in a good spot in the game. I didn't think we had our best game by any means, relied on our goaltender probably too much, but he was terrific."
Goaltending has been a rare greatness for Toronto this year. Matt Murray has been great with a 10-4-2 mark and a .916 save percentage, shocking everyone. Ilya Samsonov has been just as great at 12-3-1 with a .916 save percentage of his own. Not sure if this is sustainable, especially knowing they need to figure out who starts in the playoffs but I suppose they’ll figure that out when they get there. But at 25-9-7, they’ve been great and kind of under the radar. Except in Canada.
Prediction
You should likely expect Saros to go for Nashville, while Toronto can pick whomever to patrol the net. Toronto is a heavy favorite as high as -205 at some books, with the under going 4-1 in the last five meetings. In that kind of game, you go to the goalie with the better advantage, but I think Saros is in need of coming back to Earth. Maple Leafs 4, Predators 1
Betting trends
Predators are 18-6 after two straight non-conference games the last 2 seasons.
Predators are 21-11 after 2 straight road games the last 2 seasons.
Maple Leafs are 26-4 at home after playing on the road the last 2 seasons.
Projected lines
Predators:
Filip Forsberg -- Juuso Parssinen -- Colton Sissons
Mark Jankowski -- Ryan Johansen -- Matt Duchene
Nino Niederreiter -- Cody Glass -- Mikael Granlund
Yakov Trenin -- Thomas Novak -- Tanner Jeannot
Ryan McDonagh -- Roman Josi
Mattias Ekholm -- Alexandre Carrier
Jeremy Lauzon -- Dante Fabbro
Juuse Saros
Maple Leafs:
Michael Bunting -- Auston Matthews -- William Nylander
Calle Jarnkrok -- John Tavares -- Mitchell Marner
Alexander Kerfoot -- David Kampf -- Pierre Engvall
Zach Aston-Reese -- Pontus Holmberg -- Dryden Hunt
Morgan Rielly -- TJ Brodie
Mark Giordano -- Justin Holl
Rasmus Sandin -- Timothy Liljegren
Matt Murray
Don't miss our champion handicappers' free picks and expert hockey picks today. And if you enjoyed this Nashville Predators - Toronto Maple Leafs prediction, be sure to drop by every day for our daily NHL projections and previews.
Chuck Sommers
About the Author:
Chuck Sommers has camped outside of sportsbooks since he can remember, learning the tricks and nuances of the trade. He still has nightmares of betting $5,000 on the Raiders in the Tuck Rule game but has since turned that to 25 years of veteran handicapping greatness. You can find him mostly in the shadows at the Red Rock or Aliante casinos wondering if the over is cashing on any given Sunday.
