Saturday night’s NHL betting action gets things started with a key showdown in the Atlantic Division between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Boston Bruins. The puck is set to drop at 7 p.m. in this heated division rivalry.
Toronto at Boston Game Overview
The Maple Leafs are holding down fourth place in the Atlantic Division with 55 points, but they have now lost their last three games with Thursday’s 5-1 road loss to St. Louis as +112 underdogs. This followed road losses to Detroit and Philadelphia as part of this extended six-game road trip that winds up on Monday against the New York Islanders. Toronto is 11-9-6 on the road this season.
Scoring has been a bit of an issue during this current slide with five goals in three games as opposed to Toronto’s 3.0 goal scoring average on the year. Center Auston Matthews leads the team in goals with 23 to go along with 16 assists. Center Mitch Marner is the Maple Leafs’ top point scorer with 13 goals and 29 assists. He was the lone goal scorer in Thursday’s loss to the Blues. Frederik Anderson has gotten the majority of the starts in goal and his goals-against average stand at 2.67 in 41 previous games between the pipes.
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Boston is just 4-5-1 over its last 10 games and it has 58 points on the year behind an overall record of 26-22-6. It actually has a better record on the road after going just 12-12 on its home ice this season. The total went OVER five goals in this past Wednesday’s 5-3 loss to Washington as +134 road underdogs and it has gone OVER in the Bruins’ last five games. One of the reasons has been their ability to post a total of 16 goals during this same span.
While lighting the lamp has not been an issue for Boston lately, keeping opposing teams from doing the same has with a total of 19 goals allowed in five games. Making matters even worse, goalie Tuukka Rask is listed as questionable for Saturday after tweaking his groin in Wednesday’s loss. Also listed as questionable is center Patrice Bergeron with a knee injury. If Rask cannot go, look for Anton Khudobin to possibly get the start in goal after getting called up from the minors three days ago.
Toronto at Boston Game Betting Trends
- The Maple Leafs are 7-2 in their last nine division games and they are 7-3 in their last 10 games against a team with an overall losing record. The total has stayed UNDER or ended as a PUSH in 14 of their last 20 Saturday games.
- The Bruins have won seven of their last eight games against the Atlantic Division and they are 52-22 in their last 74 games played on Saturday. The total has gone OVER in their last six conference games.
- Head-to-head in this matchup, Toronto is 8-17 in its last 25 road games against Boston and the total has stayed UNDER in four or the last five meetings at TD Garden. The Maple Leafs have a 2-0 edge in the season series.
