Can Toronto Beat Up Tampa Bay Again? Oddsmakers Aren't So Sure

Article By Chris Wassel

Last Updated: 2024 Mar 14

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Can Toronto Beat Up Tampa Bay Again? Oddsmakers Aren't So Sure

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The NHL gave us a little of everything on Tuesday night. There was a total blowout in Colorado, a nail-biter in Calgary, and even a triple-overtime affair at Madison Square Garden. After all, that is why they call it the playoffs. With that said, it was quite a night of playoff hockey.

Wednesday night features four teams trying to go up 2-0 in their series with four teams trying to bounce back. It expects to be another wild night, so let’s get you ready for your NHL betting.

First Off, Oh Hello Calgary

Something strange happened on Tuesday night in Calgary. Yes, the Flames won and the moneyline for Canadian sports bettors was great. Even the 60-minute win was at more digestible numbers. However, after a power-play goal by the top line just 5:01 in, not only did scoring stop, the scoring chances kind of did, too.

It was an odd game where after 40 minutes, there were only a little over 22 minutes of 5-on-5 play. That seemed to throw everything off for both teams. It impacted Calgary more. This felt eerily like an earlier season game between Calgary and Vancouver where only one goal was scored combined. That tally waited until overtime.

If Calgary wants to make this a shorter series, it is going to have to play its style a little more compared to Dallas. Yes, Darryl Sutter loves to see a defensive type of game, but Tuesday night looked more like trench warfare than hockey. Surely, the offenses will come out a bit more as this series moves along.

So, What About Toronto?

So, there are two teams in action tonight from Canada — the Toronto Maple Leafs and Edmonton Oilers. The Maple Leafs have a chance to go up two games to none in their series. Given how Game 1 went, most oddsmakers are still not quite buying into Toronto.

Now, the challenge is what to take from the 5-0 Game 1 win from Toronto where they showed a chippy side missing from last year’s team. The scouting report on Tampa Bay is well known and Toronto got a few goals past Andrei Vasilevskiy that normally would not happen. Few pundits believe Tampa Bay will come out the same way.

Even with that big Game 1 win, Toronto is just a 1.75 to 1.80 favourite on Wednesday night to win Game 2. That regulation number inches up to 2.10. The likelihood this game ends in 60 minutes is high.

This increases the concern a bit on making some wilder wagers tonight in Canadian betting circles. However, we decided to anyway. Here are just a few:

Auston Matthews goal and Toronto to win in regulation – 3.4
Team Total Under 6.5 goals – 1.8
Auston Matthews goal, Toronto win, and Even goals – 6.5
Morgan Rielly over 0.5 points – 1.87
Victor Hedman anytime goal – 4.8

Again, taking a few risks never hurts. Speaking of risks, there is Edmonton and Los Angeles on Wednesday night as well.

The Edmonton Conundrum

Now, what do we do for the Ontario and Canadian sports wagerer for Game 2 when it comes to Edmonton? That has been a burning question since the game ended late Monday night/early Tuesday morning.

Here, our logic is to hope that someone tells Mike Smith not to pass the puck up the middle ever again.

Let’s do a quick two-legged parlay at 2.80 for the late game:

Edmonton moneyline (1.43)
Team Under 6.5 goals (1.87)

So, this is all about trying to hit on the plus-money side. The nice part so far is we have hit bigger on a few of our parlays which again is about overall investment. Little losses and bigger gains often result in a net positive. There were chances for Edmonton to keep the score of the game down. They did not and paid the price.

The hope is that Edmonton learned a valuable lesson for Game 2. If they did not, this series could be a carbon copy of last year versus Winnipeg.

More Wednesday Night Quick Hitters

This is where it is fun to look at some of the other games on this slate. The nice thing about a four-game schedule is there are still options. What we want to do here is bullet some of our more fun bets (even from the show) and make them a bit more digestible for the reader.