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Wednesday Night NHL Lines & Betting Pick: Columbus at Toronto
When: Wednesday, 7 PM ET Where: Air Canada Centre, Toronto TV: NHL Center Ice, TSN, FSOH Stream: NHL.tv Radio: 97.1 FM (Columbus) / 1050 AM (Toronto) Opening NHL Lines: Toronto -230JACKETS WIN IN BROOKLYN!!!!#CBJ pic.twitter.com/NWSujKh50a
— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) February 14, 2018
Season Series
If these teams play again this season, it would have to be in the playoffs as this is the finale of the three-game season series. On Dec. 20 in Columbus, the Blue Jackets won 4-2. Columbus backup goalie Joonas Korpisalo stopped 39 shots in one of his strongest games of the season. Seth Jones had a goal and an assist for the Blue Jackets, who never trailed. Lukas Sedlak, Pierre-Luc Dubois and Alexander Wennberg also scored for Columbus, and Cam Atkinson had two assists. Former Blue Jackets goalie Curtis McElhinney, starting for Toronto in place of Frederik Andersen on the second leg of a back-to-back, had 33 saves. On Jan. 8 in Toronto, the Jackets won 3-2 in overtime. Artemi Panarin scored 3:11 into overtime to help the Blue Jackets overcome a two-goal deficit. Sergei Bobrovsky made 35 saves, including a handful of big ones to keep his team within 2-0 before a third-period rally. Columbus scored twice in the final 4:35 of the third period to set up Panarin’s OT goal. Nick Foligno and Pierre-Luc Dubois scored in the third for Columbus. James van Riemsdyk and William Nylander scored for the Maple Leafs. Andersen stopped 30 shots.Latest NHL Lines Trends
- Columbus is 2-6 ATS in its last 8 games
- Columbus is 1-5 SU in its last 6 games
- The total has gone UNDER in 11 of Columbus’s last 16 games
- Toronto is 6-3 ATS in its last 9 games
- Toronto is 8-1 SU in its last 9 games
- The total has gone UNDER in 6 of Toronto’s last 9 games
Why Bet on Columbus?
There was no opening line on this game because Columbus at the Islanders on Tuesday so it’s not clear yet who the team will start in goal on Wednesday. It was Bobrovsky on Tuesday, so it likely will be Korpisalo here, although it’s possible Bobrovsky plays both ends of the B2B. Korpisalo, recently brought back up from the AHL, last played on Feb. 3 vs. the Islanders and allowed four goals. Defenseman Ryan Murray continues to make steady progress toward returning to the lineup. Murray, who’s on injured reserve with an upper-body injury, practiced with the team again Monday and is cleared for full contact. Murray has missed 31 games with the injury, which forced him to leave in the third period of the Blue Jackets’ 3-1 loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Nov. 27 at Bell Centre. Winger Sonny Milano (torn oblique muscle) also traveled travel with Columbus, but he isn’t ready to play yet. Milano has been sidelined since Jan. 8 when he was hurt against Toronto. In 35 games this season, he has eight goals and 13 points.Why Bet on Toronto?
The Leafs last played Monday and knocked off the NHL’s best team, Tampa Bay, 4-3, for their fourth straight win. William Nylander scored two goals and one assist. Nylander opened the scoring at the 11:55 mark of the first period when he buried a one-timer past Bolts goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy. The 21-year-old then made it 2-0 on a partial breakaway early in the middle frame. He also registered the primary assist on Jake Gardiner’s goal later on in the frame. Nylander finished the night with a plus-2 rating and two shots on goal in 14:49 of ice time. The forward is up to 14 goals and 45 points in 58 games this season. Auston Matthews registered three assists. He picked up the primary assists on both of Nylander’s goals and he also helped set up Jake Gardiner’s tally that gave them a 3-0 lead at the time. Matthews finished the night with a plus-2 rating and two shots on goal in 16:48 of ice time. It was the second time in four games that Matthews has posted a three-point night. The 20-year-old is up to 26 goals and 47 points. James van Riemsdyk netted the game-winning goal. He has scored a goal in each of the last three contests and is currently on a four-game point streak and ranks second on the Leafs with 23 goals and has produced 35 points in 57 matches.
Frederik Andersen turned aside 31 of 34 shots. Andersen came up with a couple of big saves, including a shorthanded breakaway stop on Tyler Johnson in the first period. The Leafs were up 3-0 late in the second period, but they allowed the Bolts to tie the game at three early in the third. The victory pushes Andersen’s winning streak to three games. He owns a 28-15-4 record with a 2.65 goals-against-average and a .921 save percentage this season.
The win, coupled with the victory over Nashville last week, adds fuel to the Leafs’ confidence against the NHL’s best. They cut their Atlantic Division deficit behind the first-place Lightning from eight points to six.
With 15 home wins and a projected 12 more starts that aren’t part of back-to-backs, that would give Andersen a shot at the franchise record of 22 home wins held jointly by Curtis Joseph, Ed Belfour, Harry Lumley and Turk Broda. Andersen knows the ACC’s boards and glass well by now, but adds “at the end of the day, it’s not about knowing (such nuances) it’s about being focused.”
