Monday night in the NHL brings just a single-game slate as the Tampa Bay Lightning will be up north visiting the Toronto Maple Leafs for an Atlantic Division battle.
Both teams enter Monday night’s matchup with three wins each so far and what this slate may lack in quantity, it certainly makes up for in quality.
These are two good hockey teams with playoff expectations and this should be a great game.
This looks to be a matchup with a thin margin of error, but what looks a little bit better for the Lightning is their consistency and quality of opponents they have faced so far.
In its opening four games, Tampa has beaten very good Carolina Hurricanes, Vancouver Canucks, and Vegas Golden Knights teams, while In their sole defeat, the Lightning lost narrowly to the Ottawa Senators 5-4.
This is a good team in good form out of the gates.
None of that is to say the Maple Leafs are not a good team but they have had two underwhelming performances in their first five games, which also have been against lesser opponents than Tampa has faced.
With a slim margin of error, the Lightning appear the more reliable play right now.
In a contract season, Mitch Marner is off to the solid start he needed. He has a goal and five points in five games played in 21:35 of average ice time.
Marner has been well over a point per game player for years now as he has 644 points in 580 career games. It would be status quo for him to log more than a point in this game, especially against another good team that will force more ice time and therefore more opportunity for Marner.
These are two very good hockey teams that are off to good starts this season and because of that, they will both rely on their top players.
For Toronto, Marner is one of those key players so look for him to get plenty of ice time in a competitive game and come through with a couple points.
Nikita Kucherov has picked up this season right where he left off last season, in which he scored 44 goals and had 144 points in 81 games.
In 2024/25, he already has an NHL-best seven goals, having scored at least one in all four games he has played.
This pace does not seem sustainable but Kucherov has amassed 880 points in 728 career games, so he has the pedigree, the strong form, and a great team situation to continue producing for now. Until or unless he proves otherwise, Kucherov props have been reliable plays year after year.
In a game with stellar offensive firepower on both sides, there is a decent chance this could be a high scoring affair. That being the case, Kucherov will have ample ice time with talented teammates to create plenty of opportunities for him to log goal number eight in this young season.
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Tampa Bay Lightning | +120 ML |
Toronto Maple Leafs | -140 ML |
Puck Line | TOR Maple Leafs -1.5 |
Total | O/U 6.5 |
Auston Matthews (TOR Maple Leafs) | -135 |
Nikita Kucherov (TB Lightning) | +125 |
Brayden Point (TB Lightning) | +125 |
William Nylander (TOR Maple Leafs) | +140 |
Jake Guentzel (TB Lightning) | +165 |
John Tavares (TOR Maple Leafs) | +190 |
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This article was written by a partner sports writer via Spotlight Sports Group. All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.