Long weekend for me. Which means I pack my bag and leave NYC for Toronto tomorrow morning 
Games look tricky to me. The over betn washington and toronto looks too easy. Anytime the over looks 2 easy something goes wrong. Tough pickings today but have tried to bring out plays which have higher percentage of hitting.
Going with:
1. Toronto Maple Leafs Under 2 1/2 Goals
The key here is the number of shots Toronto can get off. Toronto has been averaging 24 shots a game. They have been outscored in 9 of last 10 games. I will say that its hard to have one shot on goal against 14 in the first period and still lead 1 - 0. That will not happen very often.
Washington does allow its opponents high number of shots but they take more shots also. I see Toronto getting around 23 - 26 shots at the most here on the road.
Caps have been playing good defence as of late. Kolzig has been stellar in the net which is one of the reasons why I am not giving a very high importance to his earlier games against Toronto.
In last 5 games Caps have allowed 2 goals per game on average.
In last 5 games Leafs have scored 3 goals per game on average.
Taking a closer look at last 5 Toronto games :
3 against Calgary
1 against Rangers
2 against Boston
4 against Pens
5 against Boston
Out of these teams only Rangers have been playing good defence as of late. I happened to see the Rangers game and they have been playing a more physical game as of late. Caps will do the same. I think Leafs will also rack up more penalty minutes than Caps.
In last 5 games Leafs Power Play is @ 10% while Washington Penalty Killing is at 90.5%.
In last 10 games Caps have given up more than 2 goals only THREE TIMES. Out of this one was a late goal to Islanders [I remember this one bcoz it killed my islanders under 2 1/2 play]
Other keys are the missing personnel for the Leafs. Mogilny is out. I personally consider Mogilny a very dangerous played due to his creativity on the offensive end.
I think Kolzig gets a shutout or Leafs manage to score 1 goal
Expected Final Score: Washington 3 Leafs 1
Games look tricky to me. The over betn washington and toronto looks too easy. Anytime the over looks 2 easy something goes wrong. Tough pickings today but have tried to bring out plays which have higher percentage of hitting.
Going with:
1. Toronto Maple Leafs Under 2 1/2 Goals
The key here is the number of shots Toronto can get off. Toronto has been averaging 24 shots a game. They have been outscored in 9 of last 10 games. I will say that its hard to have one shot on goal against 14 in the first period and still lead 1 - 0. That will not happen very often.
Washington does allow its opponents high number of shots but they take more shots also. I see Toronto getting around 23 - 26 shots at the most here on the road.
Caps have been playing good defence as of late. Kolzig has been stellar in the net which is one of the reasons why I am not giving a very high importance to his earlier games against Toronto.
In last 5 games Caps have allowed 2 goals per game on average.
In last 5 games Leafs have scored 3 goals per game on average.
Taking a closer look at last 5 Toronto games :
3 against Calgary
1 against Rangers
2 against Boston
4 against Pens
5 against Boston
Out of these teams only Rangers have been playing good defence as of late. I happened to see the Rangers game and they have been playing a more physical game as of late. Caps will do the same. I think Leafs will also rack up more penalty minutes than Caps.
In last 5 games Leafs Power Play is @ 10% while Washington Penalty Killing is at 90.5%.
In last 10 games Caps have given up more than 2 goals only THREE TIMES. Out of this one was a late goal to Islanders [I remember this one bcoz it killed my islanders under 2 1/2 play]
Other keys are the missing personnel for the Leafs. Mogilny is out. I personally consider Mogilny a very dangerous played due to his creativity on the offensive end.
I think Kolzig gets a shutout or Leafs manage to score 1 goal
Expected Final Score: Washington 3 Leafs 1
