{"id":464979,"date":"2025-03-19T08:24:22","date_gmt":"2025-03-19T12:24:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=464979"},"modified":"2025-03-18T21:57:37","modified_gmt":"2025-03-19T01:57:37","slug":"nhl-predictions-march-19-colorado-avalanche-toront-maple-leafs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/03\/19\/nhl-predictions-march-19-colorado-avalanche-toront-maple-leafs\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL Predictions: March 19th Colorado Avalanche vs. Toronto Maple Leafs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome back to NHL Predictions. Each day, Last Word on Hockey<\/em> takes a look at the games that are scheduled, then offers insight and analysis to help predict who will be victorious in head-to-head matchups. Today we are looking at the game between the Colorado Avalanche versus the Toronto Maple Leafs. Be sure to check out more NHL Predictions<\/em> as the 2024-25 season continues.<\/p>\n

NHL Predictions<\/h3>\n

Colorado Avalanche at Toronto Maple Leafs<\/strong><\/p>\n

Time<\/strong>: 7:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT)<\/p>\n

TV<\/strong>: SN, TNT, MAX, TVAS<\/p>\n

After playing eleven days ago in Denver, Colorado the Colorado Avalanche<\/a> (41-24\u20133) are now in Canada to face the Toronto Maple Leafs<\/a> (40-24-3) in the rematch. The Avalanche scored four unanswered goals in the third period to erase a 4-2 deficit and win the first meeting 7-4. With both teams fighting for position within their respective divisions, this game should feature a high level of play.<\/p>\n

Colorado Climbing the Standings<\/h3>\n

The Avalanche have been one of the hottest teams in the league going 8-1-1 in their last ten games. This has vaulted them into third place in the Central Division and fighting with the Dallas Stars<\/a> for home ice in the first round. They have acquired many new faces throughout the season and it now seems like this team has the makings of a Stanley Cup contender once again. They will try to add to their streak as they begin a three game Eastern Canada road trip tonight.<\/p>\n

Leading the way are the usual stars. Nathan MacKinnon<\/a> has 16 points in the last 10 games, including his 1000th point.<\/a> Cale Makar<\/a> has 15 points in that stretch. They will look to outperform the Maple Leafs stars tonight. Add Valeri Nichushkin<\/a> to the ones to watch as he had a hat trick and an assist against Toronto in their last game. With all the star power the overlooked aspect of the Avs is their goaltending. Scott Wedgewood<\/a> made the last two starts with Mackenzie Blackwood<\/a> ill. Blackwood will likely make the start tonight.<\/p>\n

Toronto Trying to Find Their Best Game<\/h3>\n

Will the real Toronto Maple Leafs please stand up. Before controlling the game in a convincing victory over the Calgary Flames<\/a> on Monday night the Leafs had started March 2-4-1. This had raised multiple concerns about how Toronto might perform in the playoffs and lead to the forward lines being placed into a blender. However, in their win over the Flames the lines went back to familiar combinations and it seemed to work. Coaches and fans alike will be looking for that to continue into tonight’s game.<\/p>\n

The hesitation among Leafs nation seems to be how Toronto has preform against quality competition. On the year the Maple Leafs are playing .500 hockey against teams in the top-16 based on points percentage. They have also lost multiple games billed as \u201cplayoff tune-ups<\/em>\u201d recently. The question becomes do the regular season results even matter if the team will ultimately be judge on playoff performance once again? Yet, facing the Avalanche will give them another opportunity to dispel the notion that they struggle against good teams. Based off practice yesterday expected the same line up with Joseph Woll<\/a> as the likely starter.<\/p>\n

NHL Predictions<\/h3>\n

Colorado has a very clear advantage in the speed department against Toronto. The Avs are built to play at a million miles an hour. This gives the Leafs fits in transition. Toronto will have to rely on their structure and defend up ice with strong offensive zone time. Colorado should also have the edge on the power play. The Maple Leafs have only killed off 67.7% of their penalties since January 14th. All is not lost for Toronto though. Maybe Monday was a turning point. If their stars continue to play the way they did against Calgary and they get good goaltending this game is a toss up.<\/p>\n

Prediction: Maple Leafs win 4-3<\/em><\/p>\n

Prop Bets of The Night<\/h3>\n

As mentioned Nichushkin had a hat trick in the first meeting. He also has goals in his last two games. He is + 210 as an anytime goal scorer tonight. For the Maple Leafs, Max Domi<\/a> has started to heat up scoring twice in the Leafs last three games. He is more of a long shot at +500 to score tonight. Toronto is a home underdog at -104 on the moneyline.<\/p>\n

Main Photo Credit: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n

Please play responsibly, check for your local rules and age restrictions, some jurisdictions require ages 21+. Gambling\u00a0problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER.<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Welcome back to NHL Predictions. Each day, Last Word on Hockey takes a look at the games that are scheduled, then offers insight and analysis to help predict who will be victorious in head-to-head matchups. Today we are looking at the game between the Colorado Avalanche versus the Toronto Maple Leafs. Be sure to check […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5347,"featured_media":436279,"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":[18,28,4547,4548,4524],"tags":[6085,6062],"class_list":["post-464979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-leafs","category-avalanche","category-hockey","category-nhl","category-nhl-predictions","tag-colorado-avalanche-predictions","tag-toronto-maple-leafs-predictions"],"modified_by":"Levi Pike, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464979","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\/5347"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=464979"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464979\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":464999,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464979\/revisions\/464999"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/436279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=464979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=464979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=464979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}