The Toronto Maple Leafs and San Jose Sharks meet Thursday in NHL action at the SAP Center. The Toronto Maple Leafs look for a win after winning 4 of their last 6 games. The San Jose Sharks need a win to rebound from a 2-7 start.
The Toronto Maple Leafs are averaging 2.71 goals per game and are scoring on 22.2 percent of their power play opportunities. William Nylander leads Toronto with 4 goals, John Tavares has 5 assists and Auston Matthews has 33 shots on goal. Defensively, the Toronto Maple Leafs are allowing 2.57 goals per game and are killing 80.8 percent of their opponent’s power plays. Erik Kallgren has given up 3 goals on 18 shots faced, and Ilya Samsonov has allowed 10 goals on 146 shots.
The San Jose Sharks are averaging 1.89 goals per game and are scoring on 7.4 percent of their power play opportunities. Nico Sturm leads San Jose with 4 goals, Mario Ferraro has 3 assists and Timo Meier has 42 shots on goal. Defensively, the San Jose Sharks are allowing 3 goals per game and are killing 96.2 percent of their opponent’s power plays. Kaapo Kahkonen has allowed 10 goals on 79 shots faced, and James Reimer has allowed 15 goals on 195 shots.
The Maple Leafs are 1-4 in their last 5 road games and 6-2 in their last 8 Thursday games. The Sharks are 0-5 in their last 5 home games and 13-38 in their last 51 overall. The under is 7-0-1 in Maple Leafs last 8 overall. The under is 3-0-1 in Sharks last 4 overall. The Maple Leafs are 2-6 in the last 8 meetings in San Jose and 6-16 in the last 22 meetings. The favorite is 16-5 in the last 21 meetings.
The San Jose Sharks have had great success against the Maple Leafs in past meetings, but it’s hard to get behind them with their inability to find the back of the net. The Toronto Maple Leafs are winning games without their offense finding its stride through 7 efforts. It’s only a matter of time before the Maple Leafs start clicking on that side. The San Jose Sharks just don’t have the offensive firepower to give the Maple Leafs a scare. Give me Toronto and the PL for max betting value.