Maple Leafs vs Panthers NHL Handicapping
Even the crappy teams in the NHL have to play out the full 82. Yes, Toronto Maple Leafs, that means you. Toronto’s recent 2-10 slide ensures that it will be missing the postseason for the eighth time in the last nine seasons.
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NHL Betting Plays
Date/Time: Thursday, March 10 2014, 7:30 pm EST
Venue: BB&T Center, Sunrise FL
Toronto, Florida (odds not yet listed)
MoneyLine:
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The Panthers – other than one out-of-character playoff push in 2011-12 – are in perennial rebuild mode.
Seeing as both teams will be golfing in a few short days, now is the time to explore the unknown commodities on the roster, to see who is worth providing a more broad opportunity in the future.
For the Leafs, starting goalie Jonathan Bernier is out for the season with a knee injury, as is habitually banged-up star Joffrey Lupul.
Backup goalie James Reimer – once bandied about as the franchise’s saviour between the pipes – has been an utter mess since the Olympic break, so the Buds would be wise to start third-stringer Drew MacIntyre in Florida.
Give some checking-line guys and some healthy scratch candidates some ice time, why not?
The Panthers have some intriguing young players, and took a trip down memory lane when they acquired Roberto Luongo from the Vancouver Canucks some weeks ago (“Bobby Lu” was Florida’s franchise goalie until the middle of the last decade). Luongo is banged up, so Dan Ellis will likely get the start in net.
Florida has built up the middle of the ice impressively, laden with young talent like 20-year old Jonathan Huberdeau, 18-year old Aleksander Barkov and 21-year old Nick Bjugstad, all centers.
These talents will take some time to realize their full potential, but it augurs well for the franchise in a few seasons.
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The team has been in a dire state to be able to draft such talent, however. In a non-traditional hockey market, the Panthers are asking for a lot of patience from their “snowbird” fans.
When the Leafs come to town, a good chunk of Florida’s attendance is represented by transplanted Ontarian Leaf fans… even when the team’s performance puts the fans through their own collective personal hell.
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Although that aforementioned Florida trio will make sweet music as they mature and adjust to the NHL, in the present the Panthers are near dead-last in all measurable statistical categories.
In short, they’re a bad team.
This should be a game in Toronto’s pocket, provided it gives plenty of ice time to players that want to audition their talents, or have enough personal pride to keep competing.
The Leafs have a bit of a track record of being eliminated from playoff contention and then inexplicably playing well. At the same time, if the Leafs have completely withered and lost the will to try, they could be embarrassed on the road.
Florida has the tantalizing youth and a couple of functional veterans (RW Scottie Upshall and D Brian Campbell, to name two) but its overall talent level is lacking, and Ellis got shelled in a miserable 5-2 loss to the Flyers last time out.
With a strong effort Thursday night in Florida and on Saturday night in Canada’s capital versus the hated Senators, the Leafs could at least salvage some personal dignity.
I believe there will be enough players on the roster to buy into that concept against the cellar-dwelling Panthers.
Toronto 3, Florida 2
