{"id":440051,"date":"2024-04-20T08:00:48","date_gmt":"2024-04-20T12:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=440051"},"modified":"2024-04-19T21:36:32","modified_gmt":"2024-04-20T01:36:32","slug":"nhl-predictions-april-20-w-toronto-maple-leafs-vs-boston-bruins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2024\/04\/20\/nhl-predictions-april-20-w-toronto-maple-leafs-vs-boston-bruins\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL Predictions: April 20 w\/ Toronto Maple Leafs vs Boston Bruins"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome back to another day 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 and other factors that may play in. We also have a featured game of the day, which is considered must-watch TV. Today\u2019s featured game is the Toronto Maple Leafs<\/a> vs Boston Bruins.<\/a> Be sure to check out more NHL predictions in the coming days at the 2024 NHL Stanley Cup playoffs kick-off.<\/p>\n

NHL Predictions<\/h2>\n

New York Islanders vs Carolina Hurricanes<\/h3>\n

Season Head-to-Head: Islanders 2-2 Hurricanes<\/h4>\n

TV:<\/strong> TBS, TruTV, TVAS, MSGSN, BSSO, SN West, SN East, SN Pacific; Sportsnet 360<\/p>\n

Our opening game of NHL predictions has the New York Islanders<\/a> meeting up with the Carolina Hurricanes<\/a> once again. Ilya Sorokin<\/a> is the likely starter in this game, but always check social media<\/a> before locking in a daily fantasy starter. Semyon Varlamov<\/a> could get some time if Sorokin struggles between the pipes. Mathew Barzal<\/a> has scored 23 goals with 57 assists for the Islanders. Kyle Palmieri<\/a> has seven goals and five assists over the past 10 games. The Islanders have a stellar 17-7-4 record when scoring a power play goal.<\/p>\n

Frederick Andersen is slated to get the start in goal for Carolina, which looks to knock out New York for a second straight season. The Hurricanes have an amazing 48-7-3 record when scoring at least three goals. Sebastian Aho<\/a> (the Hurricanes one and not the Islanders one) has scored 36 goals with 53 assists for the Hurricanes. Trade deadline acquisition Jake Guentzel<\/a> has six goals and seven assists over the last 10 games.<\/p>\n

Both teams have fiery head coaches that have been through the wars of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Carolina starts its quest for its second-ever Cup with a victory.<\/p>\n

Prediction: Hurricanes win 4-2.<\/p>\n

Toronto Maple Leafs vs Boston Bruins<\/h3>\n

Season Head-to-Head: Maple Leafs 0-4 Bruins<\/h4>\n

TV: Sportsnet; CBC; TruTV; TBS; Max; TVAS<\/p>\n

Our featured game has the Maple Leafs looking to finally beat the Bruins for the first time this season. Ilya Samsonov<\/a> is the projected starter for Toronto, which will need him to be at his best to stand any chance of beating Boston. Toronto hasn’t beaten Boston in a post-season series since 1959<\/a> and all the pressure is on them. League leading goal-scorer Auston Matthews<\/a>, who bagged 69 this season, will need to step up for the Leafs. Mitch Marner<\/a> led the team in assists with 59 this campaign.<\/p>\n

It’s uncertain if Linus Ullmark<\/a> or Jeremy Swayman<\/a> will get the call in goal as of press time. However, the B’s can likely go with either goalie and have a great chance to win. David Pastrnak<\/a> leads the team in goals (47) and assists (63) for Boston. This will be the fourth time these two teams have met in the Stanley Cup Playoffs since the 2012-13 season. The Bruins have won all three meetings, including back-to-back victories in 2018 and 2019.<\/p>\n

Not only is history against the Maple Leafs, but it seems a lot of the current trends are against them. Boston seems better in goal and on defence and Toronto is coming into the post-season on a losing skid. Expect the Bruins to continue that.<\/p>\n

Prediction: Bruins win 5-3.<\/em><\/p>\n

More NHL Predictions with the Prop Bets of the Night<\/h3>\n

With the limited number of games, let’s reach into the bag and pull out some prop bets<\/a>. In the opening game, take Brock Nelson<\/a> of the Isles to get the over on +0.5 goals and Guentzel to get +1.0 on points.<\/p>\n

The latter game has some good offensive weapons and take Pastrnak getting the over on +1.0 points for Boston. Go with William Nylander<\/a> to break out of his late-season funk with the over on +0.5 points.<\/p>\n

Main photo by: Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports<\/em><\/p>\n

Ages 21+. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Welcome back to another day 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 and other factors that may play in. We also have a featured game of the day, which is considered must-watch TV. Today\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2352,"featured_media":440052,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,4547,4548,4524,18],"tags":[7903,6081,6010,6084,6062],"class_list":["post-440051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bruins","category-hockey","category-nhl","category-nhl-predictions","category-leafs","tag-2024-stanley-cup-playoffs","tag-boston-bruins-predictions","tag-carolina-hurricanes-predictions","tag-new-york-islanders-predictions","tag-toronto-maple-leafs-predictions"],"modified_by":"Levi Pike, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2352"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=440051"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440051\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/440052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=440051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=440051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=440051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}