Maple Leafs vs. Hurricanes Best Bet: Expect These Two Contenders to Hit the Ground Running After the Break

Maple Leafs vs. Hurricanes Best Bet: Expect These Two Contenders to Hit the Ground Running After the Break

I love goals.

If you have tailed me on my previous articles you should know this. However, don't fret because we are going to pick right up where we left off.

Tonight in this Eastern Conference clash the high-powered Toronto Maple Leafs will be hosting the frontrunners from the Metropolitan Division, the Carolina Hurricanes. Both sides just enjoyed the All-Star break and are poised for a run at the Cup this season.

There will be goals.

Click here for Maple Leafs vs. Hurricanes predictions

Maple Leafs vs. Hurricanes Prediction

After any sort of abbreviated break in the season, such as the one we saw over the holidays or the one we are coming off of today, a good number of netminders look lost for a moment. It's not their fault and I could dive into the reasoning behind it but it does not matter, we will exploit it nonetheless.

The goaltender matchup is nothing to cause concern, the pace at which these two teams play in and of itself should allow these two sides to light the lamp early and often.

These squads have been playing great and the scoring has been plentiful lately, however they have been scoring all season. Toronto is scoring 3.48 GPG at home while Carolina is sitting at 3.33 GPG on the road.

History tells us even more about how this one could go.

I look at the previous matchups between two squads across the last 2-3 seasons very often to help me get a feel for how two teams have played each other. I say last three years because I think it's fair to assume 60-70% of the rosters and coaching staffs are the same.

With that said, I believe the play by the clubs and philosophy by which they approach the game are going to be similar to those games and they usually are. When these squads face-off, the winning team has scored at least four goals in the last five straight meetings straight, including two games that ended 6-3 and 8-6.

Now I realized writing these first few articles there are about 1,000 words I could say and still only partially break down my read so I touched on some of my key points and am leaving you with some stats that line up with what we like tonight.

Toronto is 9-1 across the L10 1st period o1.5's; they are 8-2 L10 GIFT (goal in first ten) and hitting that north of 64% on the season. Carolina is only 6-4 L10 1P o1.5 however they are 7-3 L10 GIFT and hitting that over 68% on the season, second-best in the league.

I don't know who's going to win this one, but I bet they score some goals. This one should be electric with goals coming early and often. Best of luck if you tail!

Maple Leafs vs. Hurricanes Picks

• PICK: Carolina/Toronto GIFT* -165 or better (Bet $165 to win $100)
• PICK: Carolina/Toronto 1P* over 1.5 -150 or better (Bet $150 to win $100)
• PICK: Carolina/Toronto over 6 -150 or better (Bet $150 to win $100)

*1P-1st period

*GIFT-Goal In First Ten