Wild vs. Maple Leafs same-game parlay predictions Oct. 14: Bet on Bertuzzi and Toronto at +250
The Toronto Maple Leafs host the Minnesota Wild for our first taste of Saturday night hockey this season.
The pregame narrative: The Leafs erased a two-goal deficit late to beat the Montreal Canadiens 6-5 (SO) on opening night. We're expecting Toronto to win but in a tightly contested affair. Tyler Bertuzzi is a good bet to notch his first point in the Blue and White, too.
NHL oddsas of 10:11 a.m. on 10/14/2023.
Wild vs. Maple Leafs same-game parlay
Parlay: Leafs moneyline + Bertuzzi over 0.5 points + Under 7.5 goals (+250)
Leafs moneyline (-177): Toronto pulled a rabbit out of its hat on Wednesday, but a win is a win. It's reasonable to be skeptical of the Leafs' defence after allowing five goals to the Canadiens, but Toronto is 24-8 in its last 32 games after allowing five-plus goals.
The team should tighten up against Minnesota tonight.
Also, the Leafs are a great home team. They had the third-best home record (27-8-6) and home goal differential (+44) in hockey last year. The Wild were an above-average road team (21-13-7) but we're still happy to back the Buds in this spot.
Other parlay picks
Bertuzzi to score 1+ points (-134): Auston Matthews has been the league's best 5v5 player over the past three seasons, and there's no disputing that. He ranks first in even-strength goals (1.73) and second in even-strength points (3.05) per 60 in that span, per Natural Stat Trick.
The only player with a higher 5v5 points/60 is his linemate Mitchell Marner (3.10), and guess who's riding shotgun with them? Bertuzzi.
The new addition was held scoreless in his Leafs debut, but we like his chances of getting in on the action tonight. Matthews (-420) and Marner (-385) have heavily juiced odds to register a point, while Bertuzzi is a palatable -134.
He doesn't log power-play minutes, but this is still a great price.
Under 7.5 goals (-360): Toronto's opener was a track meet but we're expecting this game to be much less free-wheeling. The Leafs and Wild were two of the league's best unders teams last year, with respective 48-40-5 and 46-36-6 records (playoffs included), according to EV Analytics.
Minnesota won its opener 2-0 and all six of its preseason games fell under this alternate total.
Both matchups between these teams last season also had seven or fewer goals scored.
