Albert
·
2d
My Prediction
Toronto Maple Leafs by 2Today we have the Toronto Maple Leafs going up against the Chicago Blackhawks. The Leafs, with the likes of Joseph Woll and Anthony Stolarz defending the goal, have remained a solid team defensively; Stolarz, in particular, is holding his own with an impressive season save percentage of 96.9.
On the offense, they've got some serious firepower under their sleeves. Auston Matthews and William Nylander, scoring 21 and 33 goals respectively this season, with a notable contribution from John Tavares. Matthews's scoring triples that of last month's, while Nylander has been on a roll, having scored 5 goals in the last month.
For the Blackhawks, the goalkeeping hasn't been too shabby, with Arvid Soderblom and Petr Mrazek at helm with current season save percentages of 90.6 and 92.0 respectively. However, offensively, it's been a bit dry out there. Ryan Donato, Connor Bedard, and Teuvo Teravainen, have been the only sparks in otherwise a season of underwhelming performance.
Past matchups between these teams echo this somewhat with Toronto leading in 3 out of 5 past games. The regular season records also tip the scale in favor of the Leafs, holding a significantly better record than the Hawks.
The most recent game results also paint a telling picture with Toronto on a flaming 4-game win streak, whilst the Blackhawks have been floundering with just a single victory among their last 5 games.
So, considering all these factors closely, I'd hate to burst any Chicago fans’ bubbles, but Toronto seems to be the team to put your faith in this time around.
Albert’s Prediction: Toronto Maple Leafs by 2