The Toronto Maple Leafs will be looking for their third straight victory when they take on the Montréal Canadiens on Wednesday. Montréal won the most recent contest between these teams, defeating Toronto 4-2 on April 12.
Here you can find the best picks, news, and stats for this North Division battle at Bell Centre. Toronto is the favorite at -135. This according to PointsBet Sportsbook, which puts the odds Montréal at +115 as the underdog.
Toronto suffered a huge blow when goaltender Frederik Andersen was moved to the long-term injured reserve list. He is out indefinitely. Defenseman Zach Bogosian is out until late May as is center Riley Nash. Also, out are forwards Scott Sabourin and Zach Hyman. For Montréal, forwards Paul Byron and Jonathan Drouin are listed as questionable for Wednesday’s game. Forward Brendan Gallagher and goaltender Carey Price are out.
Maple Leafs Score Four Unanswered Goals to Down Jets
Toronto fell behind by a goal 39 seconds into the contest, then scored four unanswered goals on their way to a 4-1 victory. Four different players scored goals for Toronto, including Mitchell Marner and John Taveras. Jack Campbell stopped 25 of 26 shots for the victory.
Toronto is seventh in goals per game at 3.29 and is seventh in shooting percentage at 10.5%. The team is 10th on the power-play at 21.5%. Marner now leads the team with 59 points and is the team leader in assists with 42. He is tied with Taveras for second in goals. Auston Matthews is the team leader in goals with 34.
The Maple Leafs are 11th in goals allowed per game at 2.71 and are 26th in penalty killing at 76.6%. With Andersen out, it will be Campbell between the pipes. He is 13-2-1 with a 2.21 GAA and a .922 save percentage.
Allen Leads Canadiens to Victory
Jake Allen stopped 21 of 22 shots to lead Montréal to a 2-1 victory over Calgary. Shea Weber and Tyler Toffoli scored goals for Montréal. The victory snapped a two-game losing streak for the Canadiens against the Flames.
Montréal is 14th in scoring at 2.87 goals per game and is 19th been shooting percentage at 9.1%. The Canadiens are 21st on the power-play at 19.4%. Toffoli leads the team in scoring with 25 goals and 36 points. Jeff Petry is second with 22 assists and 33 points.
Montréal is 16th in goals per game allowed at 2.83 and is 24th in penalty killing at 77.3%. Montréal will also be without their top goaltender, leaving Allen between the pipes. He has been outstanding at 9-9-4 with a 2.50 GAA and a .913 save percentage.
Trends:
Toronto:
- 6-0 in their last six games on Wednesday.
- 7-3 in their last 10 games on the road.
Montréal:
- 7-19 in their last 26 games following a win.
- 2-6 in their last eight games on Wednesday.
Montréal defeated Toronto in the most recent contest between these teams, but the Maple Leafs have won four of the last six meetings. All of those victories have come this season. Toronto is playing well of late, going 5-3-2 while Montréal is 4-6-0 in their last 10.
Pick: Take Toronto at -135.
The Total:
With both teams turning to their backups for this game, you would expect the scoring to be higher, but that is not the case with these two teams. Both Campbell and Allen have actually played better than the No. 1 starters, so they should help to keep scoring down. These teams have gone under in three of the last five meetings.
Pick: Go under 5.5 at -115.