Tip: Panthers and Leafs meet with varying motivation

Injury report as of april 10

Panthers
Patric Hornqvist (IR), Sam Bennett (DTD)

Leafs
Jake Muzzin (IR), Matt Murray (IR), Nicholas Robertson (IR)

Different motivations

When the Florida Panthers face off against the Toronto Maple Leafs in Sunrise, Florida on Monday night, the two teams will have vastly different motivations. The Leafs have already secured a playoff berth and are guaranteed to finish second in the Atlantic Division, while the Panthers are fighting for a spot in the postseason. With a slight tiebreaker and/or points lead over the New York Islanders and the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Panthers need to win against the Leafs and the visiting Carolina Hurricanes in their final regular-season game to secure their place in the playoffs. Panthers' coach Paul Maurice expects his team to play their best hockey in these two critical games. Matthew Tkachuk leads the Panthers with a career-high 108 points, and the team has received a huge lift from backup goalie Alex Lyon, who has won six straight games.

Meanwhile, the Leafs have alternated wins and losses over their past ten games and are still without backup goalie Matt Murray, who is recovering from a head injury. It will be intriguing to observe how Coach Sheldon Keefe manages playing his key players during their remaining games, which are essentially irrelevant. Nonetheless, the Leafs exhibited no lack of effort during their recent home finale against the Montreal Canadiens, where they dominated 7-1.

Alex Lyon: The Secret Weapon of the Florida Panthers

As of Saturday evening, the Florida Panthers remain in the first Wild Card position in the Eastern Conference, thanks largely to their goaltender, Alex Lyon. The Panthers have won six consecutive games, including a significant victory over their divisional rivals, the Ottawa Senators, with a score of 7-2 on Thursday night, thereby eliminating Ottawa from playoff contention.

On Saturday night, the Panthers secured another victory against the Capitals, with Matthew Tkachuk scoring the game-winning goal with only one minute left in regulation time. With 108 points on the season, he dominates the team's scoring, and he is presently on a five-game points streak, having amassed 11 points, including 5 goals and 6 assists. In his sixth consecutive win, Alex Lyon made 22 saves, and he may have supplanted Sergei Bobrovsky for the number one goaltender position, as Bobrovsky has not played since March 27, partly due to illness. The Panthers have won six games in a row after permitting two goals or fewer in the preceding game.

Conclusion and prediction

It's hard not to feel that the odds may be partly based on motivation, but the recent form shown by Florida and the brilliant goaltending of Alex Lyon still make me want to bet on the home team. We should also not ignore the stability that the Florida Panthers have displayed at home, especially in the latter half of the season.

I have a lot of respect for the Toronto Maple Leafs, but in a must-win game at home, I believe that Florida will get the job done against a Toronto Maple Leafs team that may well match their top players less than under normal circumstances.

I will play Florida Panthers to win in regulation @ +115 at Bet365!