Face-off: 1900 ET, 14/05/2022
Arena: Scotiabank Arena
Toronto versus Tampa Bay looked the pick of the first-round ties in this year’s Stanley Cup playoffs and it has lived up to expectations.
The Maple Leafs have forged ahead three times in the series, but on each occasion the Lightning have hit back like the champions they are.
It would now be fitting for the decider to go to overtime and 4.0 for that to happen kicks off our Toronto Maple Leafs vs Tampa Bay Lightning predictions.
Toronto Maple Leafs Odds
Toronto will be frustrated at not finishing Tampa Bay off after coming from 2-0 down in Game 6 to lead 3-2 entering the third period.
Unfortunately for the Maple Leafs, Nikita Kucherov equalised at 9:20 and then Brayden Point struck with 1:54 left in the extra section.
Head coach Sheldon Keefe said: “Not a lot between the two teams, which is why you get it to overtime. Loved how we played in overtime.
“We attacked, we had chances, plenty of opportunities to finish it and really gave them nothing until they had the look.
“But they made good on their one look, so that’s the difference.”
Auston Matthews leads Toronto with four goals and the same number of assists, while William Nylander and Mitch Marner both have seven points.
John Tavares is on six after scoring twice in 26 seconds on Friday night, so none of the big guns have been shirking the issue.
Only one match has produced fewer than seven goals so far – and that was when the Maple Leafs won the opener 5-0.
However, defences will surely tighten up in Game 7 and 1.91 for under 6.5 scores at Scotiabank Arena appeals from the Toronto Maple Leafs vs Tampa Bay Lightning odds.
Tampa Bay Lightning Odds
Tampa Bay are now 17-0 when trying to avoid back-to-back defeats in the playoffs over the past two and a bit years.
However, with the last couple of matches finishing 4-3 either way and going with home advantage, it’s hard to say where the psychological edge lies.
“We know all we did was buy ourselves another chance to keep our season going,” commented Point.
“Going into their building, their crowd has been rocking. They play really good there. We just want to focus on a good start and see what happens.”
Defenseman Victor Hedman added: “It’s been back and forth the whole series and now we’ve got to win coming off of a win.
“It was the best out of seven, then the best out of five, best out of three and now it’s the best out of one.”
We’ve looked everywhere for clues and just can’t split these evenly-matched teams.
Let’s finish off our NHL predictions by backing both sides to prevail 3-2, with 11.5 available for Toronto to win by that scoreline and 12.5 for Tampa Bay.
Additional stats
Series results:
Tampa Bay 4-3 Toronto, Toronto 4-3 Tampa Bay, Tampa Bay 7-3 Toronto, Tampa Bay 2-5 Toronto, Toronto 3-5 Tampa Bay, Toronto 5-0 Tampa Bay
Regular season head-to-head: Tampa Bay 8-1 Toronto, Tampa Bay 2-6 Toronto, Toronto 3-5 Tampa Bay, Toronto 2-1 Tampa Bay
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