The Columbus Blue Jackets are a bad team. One bright spot had been the play of 19-year-old rookie Adam Fantilli, but he has been out since suffering a calf laceration on Jan. 28. Fantilli was originally projected to miss eight weeks but Coach Pascal Vincent said over the weekend that he might not return this season. He was tied for third in goals (12) and was fourth in points (27) among rookies in 49 games at the time of the injury. Here’s a look at two intriguing early-week matchups.

Top NHL Betting Picks of the Week (April 1st, 2024)

NHL Power Rankings: 1-32 poll, each team's best rookie https://t.co/iZge4aFJTy pic.twitter.com/vUzLS5tAQG

— Eyewitness News (@ABC7NY) April 5, 2024

Florida Panthers vs. Toronto Maple Leafs

• When: Monday, April 1st, 2024, 7:00 PM ET
• Where: Scotiabank Arena, Toronto, Canada
• TV: NHLPP, ESPN+
• Radio: 560 Sports WQAM (Panthers) // TSN Radio 1050 (Maple Leafs)
• Live Stream: ESPN+
• NHL Betting Odds: Panthers (-132) // Maple Leafs (+110)

Could be an Eastern Conference playoff preview. Florida is battling Boston for the Atlantic Division title and perhaps for the Presidents’ Trophy, which goes to the team with the most regular-season points. Toronto sits third in the Atlantic. If Florida finishes in second and Toronto third, they would play in Round 1 of the postseason.

The Panthers snapped a two-game skid Saturday with a 3-2 shootout win over Detroit. Aleksander Barkov scored twice in the third period and Sam Reinhart scored the lone shootout goal. It was the first time Barkov — in his 11th season in the NHL, all with the Panthers — had ever scored multiple third-period goals on home ice.

It was Barkov’s 32nd career multi-goal game to surpass Olli Jokinen (31) and Pavel Bure (31) for the most in franchise history. He has recorded a ninth career 20-goal season (three more than anyone else in franchise history) and also reached 70 points on the year. It’s Barkov’s fifth career 70-point campaign, with the next closest in Panthers history, Jonathan Huberdeau and Olli Jokinen (3 each).

“It means a lot,” Barkov said of his latest milestone. “As a little kid, I would’ve never even thought about being here right now, but it’s just one of those things that you don’t realize until after your career that you’ve been here for a long time and living the dream every day.”

Sergei Bobrovsky stopped all three shots he faced in the shootout and made 20 saves for Florida, which won for the second time in its last eight games. Both goals Bobrovsky allowed came on Detroit power plays as the veteran netminder snapped an 0-4-1 slump with his 33rd win of the season. Bobrovsky’s hot streak coming out of the All-Star break has faded, but over 10 starts in March, he still posted a very good 2.59 GAA and .904 save percentage.

“I think we needed it,” Panthers head coach Paul Maurice of Saturday’s win. “I think we’ve needed the frustration we’ve been seeing, the frustration and adversity. I think we’ve created our own problems to start. We had a bunch of problems, just some strange things happened — some health, we had a bunch of guys get sick we didn’t say much about.”

It was Maurice’s 864th career win, tying Lindy Ruff for fourth-most in NHL history.

Toronto won its second game in a row Saturday, 3-0 in Buffalo. Auston Matthews had his NHL-leading 60th goal of the year to tie the franchise record he set when he led the NHL two seasons ago. Matthews became the ninth player in history with at least two 60-goal seasons, along with Mike Bossy (5), Wayne Gretzky (5), Phil Esposito (4), Mario Lemieux (4), Brett Hull (3), Pavel Bure (2), Jari Kurri (2) and Steve Yzerman (2).

Matthews became the third player in NHL history with multiple 60-goal seasons for an Original Six club, following Phil Esposito (four with Boston) and Steve Yzerman (two with Detroit). It’s the third straight campaign to feature at least one 60-goal scorer, following 2022-23 (Connor McDavid & David Pastrnak) and 2021-22 (Auston Matthews). The only other instances in League history where three or more consecutive seasons featured at least one 60-goal scorer were a streak of 14 straight from 1980-81 to 1993-94 and six in a row from 1973-74 to 1978-79.

Toronto and Florida have split two meetings this season and will play once more on April 16 in South Florida.

NHL Betting Pick: Maple Leafs

Boston Bruins vs. Nashville Predators

• When: Tuesday, April 2nd, 2024, 8:00 PM ET
• Where: Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, TN
• TV: NHLPP, ESPN+, NESN
• Radio: FM 98.5 The Sports Hub (Bruins) // The Game 102.5 FM (Predators)
• Live Stream: ESPN+
• NHL Betting Odds: TBA

Possible Stanley Cup Finals preview. I do think Boston can get that far, but am not quite as sure on Nashville. The Bruins lead the Atlantic Division and the Predators are currently the top wild card team in the Western Conference.

Boston is 2-2 on its current road trip after a 3-2 shootout win at Washington on Saturday. Kevin Shattenkirk scored the shootout winner, rookie John Beecher had a goal and Jeremy Swayman made 18 saves in regulation and overtime for the Bruins, who were playing for the first time since clinching their eighth consecutive postseason appearance. Boston killed a four-minute power play in overtime after Hampus Lindholm was given a high-sticking double minor just 57 seconds into the extra period.

“I think we had our moments there where we were losing a lot of these games a couple of months ago going into overtimes, and either losing there or losing in shootouts,” Shattenkirk said. “So, I think it’s great to see us turn the corner and, obviously, taking strides there.”

Because Swayman started Saturday, it likely will be reigning Vezina Trophy winner Linus Ullmark on Tuesday. He stopped 28 of 30 shots in Wednesday’s 3-1 loss to the Lightning. The third goal was an empty-netter. It was Ullmark’s second loss in a row, which follows a three-game winning streak. He hasn’t allowed more than three goals in any of his last six outings. The 30-year-old is down to 19-9-7 with a 2.64 GAA and a .914 save percentage through 36 appearances.

Nashville has followed a six-game skid with back-to-back blowout losses, the last 7-4 at Colorado on Saturday. Cole Smith, Mark Jankowski, Dante Fabbro, and Gustav Nyquist had goals for the Preds. Kevin Lankinen finished with 35 saves. Three of the Colorado goals came on the power play. The Preds led 4-2 at one point.

“We played pretty good to be honest with you,” Nyquist said. “I think 5-on-5 especially, we made it tough on them. We created enough to probably score a couple more. Obviously, special teams, that’s kind of where we lose the game. They get a few on the power play. We don’t.”

Boston tries for the season sweep, as it won 3-2 over visiting Nashville way back on Oct. 14. James van Riemsdyk broke a tie with his second goal of the game early in the third period, and David Pastrnak scored on a penalty shot for the B’s, who killed off seven penalties. Swayman was in net. Colton Sissons scored both goals for the Predators and Juuse Saros made 28 stops. Should be Saros on Tuesday.

NHL Betting Pick: Panthers

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READ MORE: Top NHL Betting Picks of the Week – April 8th, 2024