The Toronto Maple Leafs (-200) welcome the Minnesota Wild (+170), who will be looking to extend their winning run, at Scotiabank Arena on Friday. The total is 6 (O: -120, U: +100)Minnesota (32-21-5) is playing the second of a back-to-back after earning a 2-0 win over the Blue Jackets yesterday, their fourth straight win.
The Wild committed only one penalty in the game, holding Columbus without a power play goal. Kirill Kaprizov and Brandon Duhaime each scored once for the Wild. Marc-Andre Fleury had a great performance with 30 saves to record his first shutout of the season.
Toronto (35-15-8) beat the Sabres 6-3 on Tuesday. Ryan O’Reilly was the leading goal scorer for the Maple Leafs, netting a hat trick. Mitchell Marner had five assists to lead the team in scoring. Ilya Samsonov saved 29 of 32 shots.
HEAD TO HEAD
The Maple Leafs won the first meeting between the teams this season, a 4-3 victory in November. John Tavares led Toronto with two points (0G 2A). Mats Zuccarello (1G 1A), Kaprizov (1G 1A), and Alex Goligoski (0G 2A) each had two points to lead Minnesota. Matt Murray got the win despite saving only 25 of 28 shots (.892%).
FACING OFF
Minnesota is averaging 2.84 goals per game for the season, 25th in the NHL, and they are taking on a Maple Leafs team that is allowing just 2.67 goals a game (5th). Meanwhile, Toronto has found the net 3.45 times a game on average, seventh in the league, and the Wild are allowing opponents to score 2.74 goals per game (9th).
The Maple Leafs’ 25.70% power play percentage is the fifth-best in the league, while the Wild rank eighth with a conversion rate of 23.63%. In terms of penalty killing, Minnesota has the league’s eighth-ranked PK% at 81.91%, while Toronto is 11th at 81.71%.
TOP PERFORMERS:
With 68 points this season, Kaprizov is the top skater for the Wild. He is among the league leaders with 34 goals (10th) and has added 34 assists. In the net, Filip Gustavsson (15-8-2) is Minnesota’s top goaltender by goals against average.
He has a 2.11 GAA, second-best in the league, and a .928% save percentage, also second-best. Fleury (16-13-3) leads the Wild in games played in goal. He has a GAA of 2.98 and a save percentage of .901%. Marner and William Nylander lead the Maple Leafs in scoring with 71 and 68 points, respectively.
Marner has 20 goals and 51 assists (4th) in 58 games, while Nylander has 32 goals and 36 assists in 58 games. Samsonov (20-7-2) has the best goals against average for Toronto at 2.40. He has a save percentage of .915%.
HOME AND AWAY
Minnesota is 13-11-3 away from Xcel Energy Center this season. Toronto is 22-6-4 at Scotiabank Arena this season. Meanwhile, the Wild are 4-3 without a day off and 3-2 playing with a rest disadvantage. The Maple Leafs are 7-0 with a rest advantage.
SportsTips’ NHL Pick:
Toronto Maple Leafs (-210)
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*Odds correct at time of publication, courtesy of BetMGM.
