The Toronto Maple Leafs will be looking to extend their two-game winning streak on Monday evening when they hit the road to face Matthew Barzal and the New York Islanders. The puck is scheduled to drop at 7 PM EST at UBS Arena. Toronto pummeled the Nashville Predators 4-0 on Saturday night and will visit the NY Rangers after Monday’s affair. As for the Isles, they’re also riding a two-game unbeaten run, taking down the Los Angeles Kings in OT over the weekend in comeback fashion. Below, find the Maple Leafs vs Islanders picks.
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The Leafs are a road favorite with -128 moneyline odds, while the Islanders return at +114. The total is set at six goals, with the over comfortably being hit in two consecutive meetings. Toronto has won five of the last seven against New York, but the Isles were victorious in their most recent matchup in March, winning 7-2. We could be seeing a lot of goals on Monday.
The Maple Leafs got off to a bit of a slow start to begin the 2023-24 campaign, but it appears they’re finding their way. Toronto is 7-1-2 in the last 10 games and now sits at 14-6-4, which is good enough for third place in the packed Atlantic Division. As you can imagine, offense is the name of the game for this talented roster, ranking ninth in goals with 3.33. The core four of William Nylander, Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, and John Tavares are all chipping in, but Nylander is the clear standout. He’s tallied 32 points, scoring 13 goals and supplying 19 assists. Matthews meanwhile has 18 goals and nine assists.
Defensively, however, the Leafs allow 3.17 goals per night, which is 17th in the league. The injuries to their blue line are piling up, with Mark Giordano and John Klingberg both out. To make matters worse, netminder Joseph Woll is also sidelined with a high ankle sprain, adding to their laundry list of goalie injuries. Toronto really needs to go out at the trade deadline or even sooner and grab a defenceman because, at this rate, it could be their No. 1 issue in making a deep playoff run.
That being said, the Leafs were stout defensively on Saturday, now allowing a single goal against Nashville. Ilya Samsonov made 18 saves in between the posts. Matthews shined here, scoring twice. Nylander tallied a pair of assists, too. Toronto has now scored eight times across the last two outings, which could be a sign of what’s to come on Monday against an Isles team that doesn’t exactly have a rock-solid blue line.
New York is also in good shape at the moment. They’re 7-1-2 in the last 10 contests and have won four of five. That includes victories over several contenders including the Carolina Hurricanes, Florida Panthers, and LA Kings. Although the Isles aren’t exactly shining on either end of the ice, the goals have been flowing over the last week. Brock Nelson is the only double-digit scorer with 11 goals but the likes of Matthew Barzal, Bo Horvat, and Noah Dobson are putting up respectable numbers.
Barzal has nine goals and 19 assists. Horvat also has nine goals and 15 assists. These core guys definitely need to score the puck at a much more consistent rate, but there are signs of them turning things around. New York’s 12-7-7 record puts them in third in the Metropolitan Division. Saturday’s win over the Kings was inspiring as well. Down 2-0 heading into the third, the Isles dug deep and found two goals in the third thanks to Anders Lee. In overtime, Jean-Gabriel Pageau quickly ended things with the winner.
The Islanders tend to perform rather well at UBS Arena, compiling a 6-3-5 record. Monday marks the third game of a five-game homestand, with the Anaheim Ducks and the Boston Bruins visiting later this week. Considering how the last game vs Toronto went, New York should have some confidence about another victory.
Just based on past meetings, there is one bet here that is 100% worth it. The over in goals. Lock it in.
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