Welcome back to the return of NHL Predictions. Each day, Last Word on Hockey takes a look at the games that are happening and gives our predictions for each one, breaking down head-to-head matchups and other factors that may play in. We also have a featured game of the day, which is considered must-watch TV. Today’s featured game is the Utah Hockey Club vs Toronto Maple Leafs. Be sure to check out more NHL predictions in the coming days as the 2024-25 season continues.
NHL Predictions
Utah Hockey Club vs Toronto Maple Leafs
Time: 7 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST)
TV: TSN4; Utah16; NHL Network
It’s the first meeting of the Utah Hockey Club and the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena. This is the lone game of Sunday night, so it’s the featured game of NHL predictions by default. However, this could be an interesting matchup.
Utah will be coming into the game on the back-end of two games in two nights. Toronto will have last played on Wednesday night against the Vegas Golden Knights. However, the Leafs have some injuries and will be without Matthew Knies for this game.
With that out of the way, let’s take a look at this matchup as part of NHL predictions.
The Utah Story
Utah will be playing its second game in as many nights and may turn to Jaxson Stauber for the start. However, always check social media before locking in a daily fantasy starter. If that last name sounds familiar, Jaxson is the son of former NHL goalie Robb Stauber.
Utah played the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday night and was on a three-game losing skid heading into that game. Dylan Guenther leads in goals with seven, but Clayton Keller is tops in points with 16. Nick Schmaltz has yet to score a goal, but has 13 assists already.
The Maple Leafs Story
Toronto has been off a few days after a 3-0 shutout of Vegas. Auston Matthews may be still out of the lineup, but the Leafs have three consecutive victories. Toronto is also 7-2-1 in the last 10 and are surviving without its captain.
Anthony Stolarz is the expected starter for the Maple Leafs and has done a solid job this season. Mitch Marner is putting together another great regular season as he leads in assists (20) and points (26) so far this season. William Nylander is leading the Leafs in goals with 13 coming into this game. Veterans like John Tavares have also stepped up while Toronto has been dealing with injuries.
Prediction
Utah has shown some flashes of brilliance and has beaten some good teams. However, injuries to the defence have really slowed Utah down. It also doesn’t help going back-to-back with a rested Toronto waiting.
The Leafs may be dealing with injuries. However, they’ve managed to plug along keep winning. Losing a player like Matthews hurts, but Toronto has done well without him.
Prediction: Maple Leafs win 4-2.
Prop Bets of the Night
We finish up NHL predictions with some prop bets for this game. Toronto is the favourite by 1.5 goals over Utah in this one. We think the Leafs cover this one at +130. This game has an over/under of 6.5 and that should be the play at -120. The props for this game are at BetMGM.
Main photo by: Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images
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