Leafs vs Bruins NHL Spread/Handicapping
The Toronto Maple Leafs, perhaps the biggest surprise in the NHL this season begin their first playoff series in nearly a decade Wednesday night when they travel to Boston to play a Bruins team that limped into the playoffs.
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#5 Toronto Maple Leafs (26-17-0-5) at #4 Boston Bruins (28-14-3-3)
When: 7:00 PM ET, Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Where: TD Banknorth Garden, Boston, Massachusetts
Broadcast: CBC, RDS, CNBC, NESN
Leafs vs. Bruins Betting Lines from betonline.com
Toronto Maple Leafs +1½ -190 +164 Ov 5 -126
Boston Bruins -1½ +165 -181 Un 5 +114
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Leafs Open First Playoff Series Since ’04 At Boston
The Boston Bruins won three of the four regular-season meetings while outscoring the Toronto Maple Leafs, 10-7, in those games. But many feel that Toronto is in good position to pull the upset against a Boston team that looks like a team in slight disarray at precisely the wrong moment.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have had their share of problems with the Boston Bruins this season and it begins with their top players. The Leafs were led in scoring by Phil Kessel, who finished in a tie for seventh in the league, with 52 points in 48 games but he recorded zero points and as minus three rating in the four games against Boston this year. We all know that the Leafs will only go as far as Kessel takes them.
Nazem Kadri, James van Riemsdyk and Joffrey Lupul are a good supporting cast but Kessel is the key for Toronto in this series. There are a few struggling Leafs ahead of Wednesday night’s opener – James van Riemsdyk has two goals in seven games and Mikhail Grabovski has one goal and one assist in his past 15 appearances. [ad-4437448]
That’s the bad news – now for the good. Phil Kessel has been scorching hot with 10 goals and 18 points in his last 11 outings. Cody Franson racked up 10 points in 12 contests to finish the regular season. Joffrey Lupul totaled three goals and one assist in five matches at the end of the year. All in all the Toronto Maple Leafs enter the postseason as one of the better offenses in the league averaging 3.02 goals per game.
The biggest question mark in Game 1 will be James Reimer who 19-8-5 with a career-low 2.46 goals-against average and career high .924 save percentage this season. He looked out of sorts in the Leafs last game of the season but has been good against Boston this year.
The Boston Bruins enter the playoffs having gone 3-5-2 in their last 10 games and struggling in every aspect of the game. Defense and goaltending was a hallmark of this team all season but even that aspect of the game was slightly off down the stretch. On the year, the Bruins allowed just 2.21 goals per game. But Zdeno Chara didn’t quite look like the imposing figure he is and Tuukka Rask was just 0-1-1 in his last two games with a 2.93 GAA and .897 save percentage after going 19-10-5 with a 2.00 GAA and .929 save percentage during the year.
Offensively the Bruins were OK scoring 2.65 goals per game. Names like Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand Tyler Seguin, David Krejci, Milan Lucic Nathan Horton and Jaromir Jagr are impressive on paper but they haven’t been all that great on the ice. Jaromir Jagr has nine points in 11 games with the Bruins since being traded from Dallas and Milan Lucic had a goal and two assists in his last two games. He had just two points in his previous nine matches.
Betting Prediction
A few trends to consider:
• Under is 5-2-1 in TOR last 8 road games.
• Over is 7-2-1 in BOS last 10 Wed. games.
• BOS are 2-7 in their last 9 overall.
• BOS are 2-7 in their last 9 vs. Eastern Conference.
• Over is 12-4 in the last 16 meetings in Boston.
• Over is 9-3-1 in the last 13 meetings.
There aren’t many giving the Toronto Maple Leafs a chance in this series and rightfully so – team depth and playoff experience are certainly on the side of the Bruins. But I think it takes them a game or two to shake the cobwebs. Phil Kessel has been brutal versus the Bruins this year – I can’t see that trend continuing and I believe that the sheer excitement of wearing a Maple Leaf Jersey and lacing them up in the playoffs will be a good thing for the team in Game 1. Emotion trumps experience – take the Leafs to put some pressure on the favored Bruins with a Game 1 victory.
Pick: Toronto Maple Leafs +164
