Toronto vs Tampa Bay: the Lightning to Tie the Series Score

Prediction for the NHL Toronto Maple Leafs vs Tampa Bay Lightning match, which will take place on May 5. Check the team conditions! Several betting options are available.

Toronto is the perennial underdog in Cup battles, unable to make it past the first round of the playoffs since 2004. For almost two decades, the Maple Leafs management has been working on strengthening the roster to seriously compete for the Stanley Cup, but every time something prevents them. Sheldon Keefe's team started this year's Cup campaign with a 5:0 victory over Tampa Bay. The star pair Matthews - Marner had three points each in this game and the link of John Tavares, Ilya Mikheyev and Ondrej Kase contributed a lot to them. It would seem that with a debut like that, they could already be thinking about a trophy, but in the case of Toronto, they definitely shouldn't be in such a hurry.

Tampa Bay is the strongest team but they did not have the same level of brilliance last regular season. In the offseason the Lightning had to work hard to upgrade their roster, so they got into the season long and hard, but in the end they finished fourth in the East. John Cooper's team had to play on the road in the conference quarterfinals where they were awarded a 5-minute power play in the first period but failed to use it. Perhaps that was the key moment in the game, as the Southerners lost faith in themselves and conceded five unanswered goals, 0:5.

Toronto had a great opening game in the series with Tampa Bay, defeating the reigning champion, 5:0, but don't let the Maple Leafs' fans throw their bonnets up early. We all know how Sheldon Keefe's team knows how to give up an advantage, and the experienced Lightning will be happy to help them do it. The first game didn't go well for John Cooper's team, but they can turn the tide in the playoffs.

• Toronto has not lost in four straight games.
• Toronto has won in regulation time in six home matches.
• Tampa Bay has won five of its recent seven meetings.
• Tampa Bay has lost to Toronto in two of the last three head-to-head encounters.

Only Toronto players scored in the first game, but it is inconceivable that Tampa Bay would go scoreless in two straight meetings. That said, the Lightning's offense is so impenetrable that we're expecting them to shoot again. In their last three head-to-head encounters, the teams sent 25 goals (8.33 average).

Ondrej Palat is an experienced player who has spent his entire overseas career with Tampa Bay. He has won two Stanley Cups with the Lightning and seeking a third trophy as well. The Czech forward had a very good regular season for the Czech Republic as he recorded 49 points (18 goals + 31 assists) in 77 games, the best figure for the last five years.