NHL: New Jersey Devils vs Toronto Maple Leafs Preview
Devils fading in the East, Maple Leafs holding off Tampa Bay in the Atlantic

The New Jersey Devils (35-33-4, 74 points) head north or the border to take on the Toronto Maple Leafs (40-21-9, 89 points) in a critical match-up for both clubs.
The Devils are just five points out of the last wild card spot, but with the way Jersey has played of late, it seems unlikely they’ll get the postseason invite. Toronto is trying to hold off the Tampa Bay Lightning for the third spot in the Atlantic (+4 points) with 12 games to play.
Oddsmakers have opened the Leafs -155 with a total of 6.5 (under 6.5 -115). The puck is scheduled to be dropped at 7:30 p.m. ET / 4:30 p.m. PT and can be seen on ESPN+ and Hulu. We start our Devils vs Leafs preview starting with New Jersey.
New Jersey Devils vs Toronto Maple Leafs 
Day/Time:
Location:Scotiabank Arena, Toronto, ON
Streaming: ESPN+, Hulu
Devils Must Play Disciplined Against Leafs Power
Much of the Leafs’ success this season comes from a successful power play just under 26% of the time (5th). A team like New Jersey may give Toronto some problems because they’re not a club that spends a lot of time in the box (10th with 8.35 penalty minutes per game).
Even if the New Jersey Devils can keep it a close game, they’ll still be in a shootout and may feel the pressure to get out from a 1-9 record against Toronto in their last 10 meetings.
If recent form is any indication, New Jersey should give us enough to win this game after putting up 15 tallies in their last four games. If you’re more into betting sides, the Devils have lost bettors 10.16 units this season, and most of that has come as an underdog with an 8-16 record, losing 5.77 units.
As a road dog, it gets worse where the Devils are just 5-12 (-4.84 units). Only five other NHL teams in the league are worse as a road dog.
Toronto Battles Injuries, Plenty Of Weapons Remain
25-goal scorer Mitch Marner will not be in the lineup against the Devils, or at least there isn’t a report confirming that he will be back, but we have some time before the puck drops.
Marner is battling a high ankle sprain, but whether he plays or not, Toronto has plenty of goal-scorers in the top six, led by Aston Mathews, who will get plenty of consideration for the Hart Trophy with 58 goals and 92 points overall, placing him ninth among the NHL leaders.
On the second line, William Nylander (39G, 54A, 92 points) and John Tavares (23G, 33A, 56 points) anchor the league’s third-highest-scoring offense, which scores 3.61 goals per game.
When handicapping the Leafs down the stretch and into the postseason, it’s important to note Sheldon Keefe has been careful about the number of minutes his top six play.
When you’re handicapping any team in the postseason, it’s essential to back a team whose stars TOI have been managed well because they’ll be asked to log more time when it matters the most. The fresher a team is, the more we should want to back them with our wagers.
Early Money Jumping On Over
The betting public is anticipating that this will be one of the higher combined NHL scores tonight and we agree.
We used to think that when we saw certain numbers the oddsmakers must know something but with more seasoning, we have realized that there are times when they make a bad number and that is the case here. It could be an overreaction to the Marner injury, but the number should have been sent out at -110 each way.
That’s fine with us because we’re taking advantage of the -105 that we have now but it’s important to jump on this now considering both teams lean over. That does it for our Devils vs Leafs preview, we wish you all the best with your NHL picks and parlays on Tuesday.
For NHL betting news, odds analysis, and more, visit Point Spreads Sports Magazine.