The Toronto Maple Leafs host the Seattle Kraken on Halloween night.
The pregame narrative: The Leafs have been inconsistent this season so it’s hard to pick a side. However, I can back the over in a matchup between two shaky goalies. I’m also taking Auston Matthews to score and John Tavares to record a point.
Check out our Maple Leafs picks vs. Kraken for the game on Oct. 31.
Maple Leafs picks vs. Kraken
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Best Bet: Over 6 goals (-121)
Both sides turn to their secondary goalies, which is the main reason for this pick.
Joseph Woll was expected to be the starter for Toronto this season but injuries have limited his production in October.
In his first start against the St. Louis Blues, Woll gave up four goals on 26 shots. It usually takes some time for a goalie to get into game shape and fans are seeing that currently.
Philipp Grubauer starts for Seattle and his results this season have been underwhelming. The veteran goaltender has allowed multiple goals in each of his four starts and his starts equating to a .881 SV%.
The Kraken are 10th in the league in goals scored per game (3.5) while the Leafs are 15th (3.2). However, they record the fifth most shots on goal (32.1) with a 10% shooting percentage.
Toronto should arguably have a lot more goals and I expect the loaded offence to continue to grow as the year continues.
Key stat: The Leafs are 4-0-1 against this line across their last five games.
Quick picks
Matthews to score (-130): There is a fair amount of juice on this play but Matthews is one player who deserves it.
Toronto’s newest captain led the league with 69 goals last season. In six career games vs. the Kraken, Matthews has six goals and 11 points.
He hasn’t had the same start to the season that he had last year, but his 8.5% shooting percentage would be the worst of his career, by far (career 16.0% shooting percentage).
Because of that, I’m looking to buy in on Matthews before he gets hot and his price becomes unplayable.
Matthews leads the NHL in shots (47) and is second in expected goals (7.5) per MoneyPuck.
Tavares to score 1+ point (-150): If the last play carried too much juice then look away, but I think the price is worth it here.
Tavares has a point in seven of nine games this season and is coming into tonight on a five-game point streak.
The former captain has the benefit of skating on the first powerplay unit with Toronto’s top offensive players. Despite that, he only has two PP points this season so there’s still room for improvement.
He continues to be on a line with William Nylander which is excellent for his production and newcomer Max Pacioretty is another veteran winger who scored close to a PPG in his last healthy season.
NHL picks made at 9:30 a.m. ET on 10/31/24.
Spencer is a true sports junkie. A graduate of the Sports Journalism program at Centennial College, he first joined NorthStar Gaming as an intern in 2023. He is now a contributing writer. He loves finding the edge to bet on in all sports but has a deep passion for the NBA and UFC. Previous stops include Sportsnet.