Free NHL Picks Today For Round 1: Toronto Maple Leafs vs Tampa Bay Lightning 4/27/23

Free NHL Picks Today For Round 1: Toronto Maple Leafs vs Tampa Bay Lightning 4/27/23
Thu 27th April 2023

The Tampa Bay Lightning (+130) head to take on the Toronto Maple Leafs (-150) at Scotiabank Arena on Thursday. The total is 6.5 (O: -110, U: -110)

FACING OFF

Tampa Bay is averaging 3.44 goals per game for the season, seventh in the NHL, and they are taking on a Maple Leafs team that is allowing 2.74 goals a game (9th).

Meanwhile, Toronto has found the net 3.45 times a game on average, sixth in the league, and the Lightning are allowing opponents to score 3.15 goals per game (17th).

Power play opportunities ought to be plentiful for the Maple Leafs, as the Lightning are averaging 4.60 penalties per game, fourth-most in the NHL.

The visitors’ 12.56 penalty minutes a game ranks second-highest. The home team has been penalized 3.78 times a game (14th) for an average of 8.80 minutes (13th).

The Maple Leafs’ 26.24% power play percentage is the second-best in the league, while Tampa Bay’s 25.68% conversion rate ranks fourth. In terms of defending power plays, Toronto has the league’s 11th-ranked PK% at 81.44%, while Tampa Bay is 17th at 78.78%.

TOP PERFORMERS:

With 113 points this season, fourth-most in the NHL, Nikita Kucherov is the top skater for the Lightning. He is among the league leaders with 83 assists (2nd) and has added 30 goals of his own.

In the net, Andrei Vasilevskiy (34-22-4) is Tampa Bay’s top goaltender. He has a 2.65 GAA and a .915% save percentage. Mitchell Marner leads the Maple Leafs in scoring with 99 points.

He has 30 goals and 69 assists (5th). Ilya Samsonov (27-10-5) has the best goals against average for Toronto at 2.33, fifth-best in the league. He has a save percentage of .919%.

HOME AND AWAY

Tampa Bay is 19-23-1 away from home this season. Toronto is 28-9-6 at home this season.

SportsTips’ NHL Pick:

Toronto Maple Leafs (-155)

Want up to a $1K risk free bet for this pick?
Claim with betmgm image today!

If you need more news, information and predictions, head over to our NHL hub page for all your NHL needs!

*Odds correct at time of publication, courtesy of BetMGM.

SportsTips covers all the latest betting, odds, picks & predictions news when it comes to major American sports like NFL, NBA, MLB & NHL. If you want to stay up to date with the latest information, SportsTips has you covered!