NHL – Round of 16
Stadium: Scotiabank Arena (Toronto)
Prediction for the NHL Toronto Maple Leafs vs Tampa Bay Lightning match which will take place on April 21st. Who will turn out to be stronger? Check the team conditions! Several betting options are available.
Claim Your Welcome Bonus!Toronto Maple Leafs
The most unpleasant part of the season has started for Toronto– the playoffs. In the regular season, the Canadian team again showed perfect results, and in the last four games, the Maple Leafs did not lose a single point at all, which allowed them to finish in fourth place in the Eastern Conference standings. Now it's time for cup battles, where they have not been able to overcome the first round for almost two decades. So Sheldon Keefe's wards weakly started the current Stanley Cup, missing three times already in the first period and losing 3-7.
Tampa Bay Lightning
Tampa Bay is a highly skilled team that has played in the last three Stanley Cup finals. They won two of them, and once again, they lost to Colorado. The Lightning lineup experiences a local update every off-season, but the main players are the same. These hockey players are exhausted from playing in the regular season, so they do not show their best for the result, finishing only in sixth place in the Eastern Conference standings. With the start of the cup battles, the mood of John Cooper's wards changed, which we saw the day before when they crushed Toronto – 7:3, gaining an advantage in the series.
Expert Betting Tips
The Maple Leafs haven't been able to overcome the first round of the playoffs for almost two decades, so they don't have much cup experience. But the Lightning has reached the final of the last three Stanley Cup draws, so they know perfectly well at what moments it is necessary to improve and when it is better to relax, which allows them to succeed. The day before, the Southerners defeated Toronto – 7:3.
Special attention should be paid to the attack of Tampa Bay, which was remarkable in the first game with Toronto, scoring seven goals. It should not be surprising since, in the last eight games, they scored 31 goals against the Maple Leafs (3.88 on average per game) – a perfect result. Moreover, the Lightning's attack is excellent, confirmed by 37 goals scored in the previous nine matches (4.11 on average per game).