Maple Leafs vs. Lightning Game 3 pick: NHL odds, predictions

The Maple Leafs and Lightning split the first two games of their best-of-7 series in Toronto, but both were routs and by the time the games finished all hell had broken loose.

We’ve seen 19 goals, 21 power plays and one suspension in the first 120 minutes of this series.

Both games saw a team race out to a 3-0 lead in the first period.

It’s hard to glean anything from that kind of gong show, but we can make an educated guess that these two teams will settle down and play hockey.

The Lightning will want to keep Game 3 on script for as long as possible.

Tampa Bay has the offensive firepower to hang with any team, but Toronto wants to open things up as much as possible and the Bolts will do everything they can to keep that from happening.

Maple Leafs vs. Lightning pick

(7 p.m. Eastern)

The goaltending in the series should also improve.

Though Ilya Samsonov had a nice bounce-back start for Toronto on Thursday, Andrei Vasilevskiy hasn’t been at his best in this series yet, but he gets the benefit of the doubt, being the best playoff goaltender in a generation.

In a series that’s seen non-stop scoring and plenty of power plays, there will be value zagging toward the under.