Maple Leafs vs. Blackhawks Free NHL Picks and Odds Breakdown (Archive)
Just about nothing has gone right for the Chicago Blackhawks early this NHL season as they look for their first win Wednesday at home vs. Toronto. Which way to lean at BMR’s top-rated sportsbooks?
Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Chicago Blackhawks
Wednesday, October 27, 2021 – 07:30 PM EDT at United Center
It’s always fun to see an Original Six matchup in the NHL and that’s what we have here between two of the marquee franchises in the sport in Toronto and Chicago on Wednesday. It’s the Leafs’ only visit of the year to the Windy City, and the Hawks will make their lone trip to Toronto on Dec. 11.
Not only are these Original Six franchises, but they are also two of the most valuable in the NHL. Toronto is valued at the most, around $2 billion (US) and Chicago fourth at $1.36 billion. They aren’t playing like marquee teams, though, as the Leafs are 2-4-1 and the Blackhawks 0-5-1.
The teams didn’t play last year because of that unusual divisional setup. Chicago is 16-5 on NHL picks in the past 21 meetings.
Leafs Can’t Get Offense Going
Toronto played its first three games this season without superstar Auston Matthews, who led the NHL with 41 goals last season, and went 2-1. Matthews was recovering from offseason surgery.
Yet with one of the NHL’s top-five offensive guys back, the Leafs are 0-4 and have totaled just six goals. Yeah, I don’t get it, either. Matthews has one goal and is minus-3. Fellow star John Tavares also has just one goal and is minus-4. High-paid Mitch Marner has an assist and has not scored in his past 15 games dating to last year’s playoffs.
The Leafs led at Carolina 1-0 after one period on Monday but allowed three second-period goals to lose 4-1. Matthews had that lone goal, the 200th of his career. Toronto was outshot 36-25. Jack Campbell allowed three goals on 35 shots and is now 2-2-1 with a 2.39 goals-against average and .915 save percentage.
"I felt really good, but those three goals, I have the ability to make those saves," Campbell said. "(If) I make those saves, we win the game."
Coach Sheldon Keefe shook up his top lines Monday in putting Matthews between Michael Bunting and William Nylander, and Tavares between Alex Kerfoot and Marner, but it didn’t much matter. Nick Ritchie, who played on the top line in the first six games, played on the fourth line. Toronto is averaging just 1.86 goals per game.
“This is a tough one to really analyze because of how difficult Carolina made it. I thought there was times for sure – Tavares and Mitch, especially – I thought those guys moved around pretty well.” Keefe said. “It just shows we’ve got another level that we need to get to.”
Toronto is 8-1 on the NHL odds in its past nine Wednesday games.
Blackhawks In Black Hole
As bad as things are with Toronto, they are MUCH, MUCH worse in Chicago both on and off the ice. On the ice, not only are the Blackhawks winless, they haven’t even led a game yet. The 360 minutes, 57 seconds without leading is the longest drought to start an NHL season since at least 1979-80.
The Hawks are averaging 2.00 goals per game and allowing 4.50, second-worst in the league. The team acquired last year’s Vezina Trophy winner, Marc-Andre Fleury, from Las Vegas in the offseason and Fleury has been nothing short of horrible, going 0-4-0 with a 5.75 GAA and .839 SV.
There’s more. The Hawks are dealing with COVID issues as stars Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews, the two anchors of those three-time Stanley Cup champions, are on the COVID list along with Henrik Borgstrom, Riley Stillman, Jujhar Khaira and assistant coach Marc Crawford.
"You can look at St. Louis in 2019, they were dead last in December and ended up winning the Cup. It’s a long year. Obviously the quicker we can turn it around the better it is for us. We got faith in the group,” young winger Kirby Dach said.
Frankly, it’s amazing that coach Jeremy Colliton hasn’t been fired yet. The fans are starting to give up as the Blackhawks’ home sellout streak of 535 straight games ended in Sunday’s 6-3 loss to Detroit. Forward Ryan Carpenter and defenseman Erik Gustafsson were activated from COVID-19 protocols ahead of that game.
On Tuesday, president of hockey operations Stan Bowman stepped down following an independent investigation into sexual assault allegations against former video coach Brad Aldrich on the Hawks stemming from 2010. Senior VP of hockey operations Al MacIsaac also resigned. The NHL fined the Blackhawks $2 million. Definitely a dark day for the franchise.
Chicago is 1-6 at BMR’s top-rated books as a home underdog. I don’t see how the team is focused at all Wednesday with all this going on.
NHL Pick: Maple Leafs at -160 with BetOnline (visit our BetOnline Review)
*The line and/or odds on picks in this article might have moved since the content was commissioned. For updated line movements, visit BMR’s free betting odds product.