Bruins vs. Maple Leafs 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs Odds & Game 3 Preview

By Hank Blaine • April 23, 2024

Boston Bruins coach Jim Montgomery has been rotating his two excellent goalies in Jeremy Swayman and Linus Ullmark all season. Swayman was fabulous in beating Toronto in Game 1 of the teams’ Eastern Conference first-round series, but it was Ullmark in Game 2 and the B’s lost for the first time this season to the Leafs. It should be back to Swayman on Wednesday when the series shifts to Toronto.

Boston Bruins vs. Toronto Maple Leafs 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs Game 3 Information

The @MapleLeafs head home with this series tied 1-1! #StanleyCup pic.twitter.com/7w52rWN5KV
— NHL (@NHL) April 23, 2024

When: Wednesday, April 24th, 2024, 7:00 PM ET
Where: Scotiabank Arena, Toronto, Canada
TV: ESPN
Radio: 98.5 The Sports Hub FM (Bruins) // TSN 1050 AM (Maple Leafs)
Live Stream: NHL Network
NHL Betting Odds: Bruins (+1.5) // Maple Leafs (-1.5)

Why Bet on the Boston Bruins?

Morgan Geekie’s first goal of these playoffs at 10:18 of the first gave Boston a 1-0 lead and David Pastrnak’s first goal at 19:52 of the first a 2-1 advantage but the Bruins couldn’t solve Samsonov again. Pastrnak’s eight career goals against the Maple Leafs in the postseason are tied with Jake DeBrusk for the most versus Toronto among all active players. Brad Marchand assisted on Geekie’s game-opening goal to tie Patrice Bergeron (78) for third on the Bruins’ all-time playoff assists list. He trails Ray Bourque (125) and David Krejci (85).

Game 2 marked the first time since the 1996 Conference Quarterfinals that the Bruins alternated starting goaltenders in the first two games of the opening round of a postseason (Bill Ranford & Craig Billington) by turning to Ullmark, who allowed three goals on 33 shots.

“No second guesses. He was terrific,” Boston coach Jim Montgomery said postgame when asked about the decision to start Ullmark over Swayman. “He made multiple big-time saves, and it’s the strength of our team. Both of them played really well. We only scored two goals (in Game 2).”

Ullmark was the team’s best penalty killer Saturday with eight saves, including three high-danger stops, in 5:34 of shorthanded ice time. His most notable save on the penalty kill robbed Leafs forward Calle Jarnkrok in the second period.

“I don’t think our urgency was where it needed to be to prevail tonight,” Montgomery said. “I didn’t think puck management was a detriment to us, I just didn’t think we won enough wall battles to get out of our end successfully.”

The Bruins have scored seven goals in this series. Three of those have come on the power play. While the power play’s resurgence — two goals in Game 1 and another in Game 2 — is definitely an encouraging sign for the Bruins, the lack of 5-on-5 production is a problem. Jake DeBrusk, Pavel Zacha, Marchand and Charlie Coyle have zero 5-on-5 goals through two games.

Only four Bruins players have more than two 5-on-5 shots in two games, and one of them is defenseman Brandon Carlo. The Bruins, based on the amount and quality of their scoring chances in Game 2, were expected to score only 1.86 5-on-5 goals, per Natural Stat Trick.

Why Bet on the Toronto Maple Leafs?

After going 0-4 vs. Boston in the regular season and losing Game 1, maybe the Leafs were simply due in Game 2 as they rallied for a 3-2 victory despite second-leading scorer William Nylander sitting out again with an undisclosed injury. Decent chance Nylander plays Wednesday. He had 98 points during the season.

In Game 2, John Tavares scored on the power play at 18:26 of the second to tie the game 2-2 and NHL regular-season goalscoring leader Auston Matthews scored his first of these playoffs at 12:06 of the third, and it stood as the winner – Toronto hadn’t even led a game vs. Boston this season. Matthews added two helpers and was the game’s No. 1 star.

The American surpassed Gordie Drillon (22) for 11th place on the Leafs’ all-time playoff goals list. Matthews also recorded his fourth career three-point game in the playoffs, tied for third most in franchise history behind Doug Gilmour (10) and Darryl Sittler (7). Finally, it was Matthews’s sixth career game-winning goal in the playoffs, moving him into a tie for the fourth most in team history. Matthews played a team-high 23 minutes and 24 seconds, had eight shots on Boston goalie Linus Ullmark and delivered six hits.

“Auston was all over the stats sheet tonight,” head coach Sheldon Keefe praised to the media in Boston. “A goal, two assists, but to me it’s the way he worked — hard, physical, winning puck battles all over the ice.”

Tavares’ goal was his 12th in the playoffs since his debut with Toronto in 2010, third most among Leafs players in that span behind Matthews (18) and Nylander (15). Max Domi scored for the Maple Leafs at 10:32 of the first period and posted the primary assist on Matthews’ goal. With the goal, Domi recorded his first playoff point as a Maple Leaf. Domi marked the sixth multipoint game of his Stanley Cup playoff career. Max and Tie Domi are the ninth father-son duo to each score a playoff goal for the same franchise.

Ilya Samsonov stopped 27 of 29 shots in the win after allowing four goals in Saturday’s Game 1 loss. Samsonov had an up-and-down regular season, ultimately finishing 23-7-8 despite an .890 save percentage and 3.13 GAA. He figures to be back between the pipes Wednesday. The Maple Leafs were 1-for-3 on the power play and 1-for-2 on the penalty kill in Game 2. Toronto ended an eight-game losing streak against Boston dating to Jan. 14, 2023.

Bruins vs. Maple Leafs Betting Trends

Boston is 2-4 SU in the last 6 games.
The Bruins are 8-1 SU in its last 9 games against Toronto.
The total went under in 9 of Boston’s last 11 games.
Toronto is 1-5 SU in the last 6 games.
The Maple Leafs are -4 SU in its last 5 games against an opponent in the Eastern Conference.
The total went over in 6 of Toronto’s last 7 games.

Bruins vs. Maple Leafs 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs Game 3 Expert Betting Predictions

The Maple Leafs take the win at home and leads the series 2-1 heading into Game 4 on Saturday night.

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*All odds stated are subject to change without prior notice.