Edmonton Oilers (18-13-2) vs. Toronto Maple Leafs (21-8-2)
January 5, 2022 7:00 pm EDT
The Line: Toronto Maple Leafs -167 / Edmonton Oilers +136; Over/Under: -6.5
(Get latest betting odds)
The Edmonton Oilers and the Toronto Maple Leafs meet in NHL action from the Scotiabank Arena on Wednesday night.
The Edmonton Oilers will try to snap a four-game losing streak after a 4-1 loss to the New York Rangers last time out. Connor McDavid leads the Oilers with 53 points while Leon Draisaitl is right behind with 52, with Draisaitl logging a team-high 25 goals and 27 assists while McDavid has a team-high 34 assists this season. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has 26 points with 23 assists while Jesse Puljujarvi has 23 points and Zach Hyman has 11 goals. Draisaitl also has a team-best +8 plus/minus rating as well this season. Mikko Koskinen’s seen the majority of Edmonton’s action in goal, going 12-7-1 with a 3.19 GAA and a .900 save percentage this season.
The Toronto Maple Leafs will look to build on their 6-0 win over Ottawa in their last game. Auston Matthews leads the Buds in scoring with 33 points including a team-high 20 goals while John Tavares also has 33 points with 13 goals and 20 assists. William Nylander’s also got 33 points with 15 goals and 18 assists. Morgan Rielly also has a team-high 23 assists on the year. Jack Campbell’s made the bulk of the starts in goal for Toronto, going 16-5-2 with a 1.86 GAA and a .939 save percentage while Joseph Woll is 3-1 with a 2.76 GAA and a .911 save percentage as a backup.
Edmonton is 0-4 in their last 4 games overall and 1-5 in their last 6 games against a team with a winning record while the over is 4-1 in their last 5 Wednesday games. Toronto is 19-7 in their last 26 games overall and 4-1 in their last 5 home games while the over is 4-1 in their last 5 games against a team with a winning record.
I get the allure of backing the Oilers, but there could be no Connor McDavid for the Oilers here and it was tough enough for the Oilers to get wins with their best players at 100%. Toronto has had their own COVID issues, but the Leafs are still the better overall team and have the edge across the board in my opinion so I’ll side with the Leafs at home in this one.
