The Tampa Bay Lightning and the Toronto Maple Leafs will continue their Stanley Cup Playoffs first-round series on Friday with the former hoping to take a 2-1 lead on home ice.
Getting to three goals first could be very important Friday night and bookmaker Bovada has the odds at +115 for Tampa Bay to do it. The odds are at +125 for Toronto to win the race to three goals and at +425 for neither side to reach three goals.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: May 5th, 1:00 P.M. (EST)
It’s very unlikely that we won’t see at least one side hit three goals in the game as these are two offensively very talented teams and there have already been 13 goals in the series.
The fascinating matchup got off to a shock start when Toronto managed to shut out the defending champions and win 5-0, but the Lightning showed their great quality in Game 2 to tie the series at one with a 5-3 victory.
Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov do most of the heavy lifting offensively for Tampa but it was Victor Hedman’s show on Wednesday. The 2020 Conn Smythe Trophy winner became the first defenseman in franchise history to record four points in a playoff game.
Hedman had a huge 85-point campaign during the regular season and it appears that he has no plans to slow down in the playoffs. Getting offense from your defensemen is always a big bonus for teams and the Lightning know that they can rely on Hedman to support the attack.
Toronto will be disappointed by the manner of the Game 2 defeat and should aim to get over it with a quick start on Friday. With Auston Matthews red-hot, the team is well placed to jump to an early lead.
Matthews scored just once and had only four points in the playoffs a year ago, but he opened the 2022 postseason with a three-point effort and has already notched five points. He was immense throughout the regular season, and if you have a player in such great form, you should feel pretty confident of your chances every night.
Toronto won close to 71 percent of games in which Matthews scored during the regular season, which shows how big of an impact he can make with his goals and how important his contributions are. The Lightning need to keep a very close eye on him if they want to grab the series lead on Friday.
