Bluelines: Attempting to end the Islanders’ playoff hopes

The Leafs were able to come away with the two points after having a strong game mirrored with a number of costly mistakes that put them behind early. A little over 24 hours after squaring off in the nation’s capital, the Buds return to Toronto on Easter Sunday with a chance to continue the positive momentum while also ending the Islanders’ hopes of a late-season push for the postseason.

Despite being in the second half of a back-to-back and facing a team that rested, it is no surprise that the Leafs enter this game as the favourite. Not only does Toronto have the edge in the season series (only surrendering one goal in the previous two contests), both teams will be playing their third game in four nights. It will certainly help to have @Jack Campbell back in the crease after @Erik Kallgren was not at his best last night.

It has felt inevitable that Matthews will soon hit the elusive 60-goal mark, being the first to do so since @Steven Stamkos in 2011-12. After coming up with just a single assist, I can imagine he will be turning up the heat against the Islanders so it’s no surprise he has the best odds of any to score twice. If you want to try and up the ante, he is a +700 to score the first goal of the game and +1800 to record his eighth career hat trick.

I could have gone with either @Kyle Clifford or @Mark Giordano scoring in this game (both are at +550), but I decided to go with something even crazier. Considering how potent the Leafs’ offence has been and how desperate New York is to keep their playoff hopes alive, they will definitely leave it all out on the ice so it would be crazy to think of a scenario where only one goal is scored. However, should both teams decide to make it a trap game with few offensive chances, it could result in a low-scoring affair. If you want more reasonable odds, the money line for two total goals is +3300 while three total goals is at +700.

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