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It was upsets abound in the first few games of these playoffs, with six of eight lower-seeded teams taking the opener in their respective series. In two of those series that have gone to a second game since, the favourites have clawed their way back and tied the series. Four more series go live tonight where the favourites are down 1-0. Who pulls their series even, and who goes down 2-0 on home ice? We’ll find out.
Toronto Maple Leafs to beat Tampa Bay Lightning 1.55
Heading into this series, it’s as if Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe was a puppy rolling over and showing his belly. With home ice advantage, he allowed the Lightning to set the pace by overcoaching and starting his bottom-six forwards against the Lightning’s top players. It was almost 11 minutes into the first period before Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner hit the ice together, and by that time the Leafs were down 2-0. It was truly a pathetic showing.
The Leafs lost Michael Bunting for three games due to a very deserved suspension, but the Lightning have half their defensive core either nursing injuries or missing the next game or two entirely. This is a time to strike for the Leafs and show their metal, a time for their stars to show up in the playoffs.
Auston Matthews to score anytime vs Tampa Bay Lightning 2.05
This isn’t so much an intuition or a data-driven approach saying he’s due, Auston Matthews simply has to do this. The Maple Leafs were just embarrassed on home ice, in a year where the Lightning stumbled into the playoffs looking horrible, and Toronto is at a crossroads organizationally.
Kyle Dubas is on the last year of his contract, and they threw everything at the wall at the trade deadline to improve. The time is now. John Tavares may be the captain of this team, but everyone knows they look to Matthews to lead them by example. He’s got to do that tonight.
New Jersey Devils to beat New York Rangers 1.76
Another team that was embarrassed in their own building in Game 1, the Devils fell victim to the veteran playoff performers for the Rangers in Vladimir Tarasenko and Chris Kreider, as well as the younger players like Adam Fox, who tallied four assists.
The only goal the Devils managed was a Jack Hughes penalty shot, so they’re going to have to work a lot harder to beat Igor Shesterkin on Thursday night, but I’m confident that this young Devils team will rally. Head coach Lindy Ruff called them a group of rebels, and they’ll have to prove that on home ice tonight.
Winnipeg Jets to beat Vegas Golden Knights 2.35
I expected the Jets to take Game 1 of this series, but not in the way that they did. Not only was Connor Hellebuyck fantastic, but the entire Jets roster appeared as if they were shot out of a cannon. They held the advantage in all-important publicly available metrics in Game 1, and blitzed the Golden Knights on the scoreboard.
It’s not as if the Jets scored early and held on for dear life either, they held the advantage in shot attempt differential and expected goals in all three periods at 5-vs-5 and in all situations, and they doubled up the Golden Knights overall in high danger chances. Not only did they excel overall, they completely dominated the Mark Stone and Jack Eichel line, killing the Vegas attack. The Jets came to play.