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Toronto Maple Leafs Present Best Betting Value in Tight Divisional Race with Panthers, Bolts

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The Atlantic Division is turning out to be a dogfight with three serious contenders for the top seed. The defending Stanley Cup Champion Florida Panthers remain the leaders but the Toronto Maple Leafs and Tampa Bay Lightning aren't far behind. 

With less than 20 games remaining for each team, if moves are going to be made it's soon as the window is closing on some current values presented.

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A value that will quickly go away is the Leafs to win the Atlantic at +170 odds on Bet365. These odds quickly fluctuate with them being as high as +260 within the last few days as the Leafs are starting to gain ground. 

Florida and Toronto face off on Thursday night with the Leafs having a chance to surpass the Panthers with a win. Florida has 83 regular season points due to a 40-22-3 record while Toronto has a similar record with just one fewer win and 81 points. 

They will face off two more times after Thursday, which will play a pivotal role in the race but besides that the Leafs have the 12th-easiest remaining strength of schedule while the Panthers have the 13th-hardest. 

Both teams will have nine road games left with Toronto playing easier competition like San Jose, Anaheim and Buffalo while Florida will have to play much tougher teams like the Lightning, Capitals and Blue Jackets. 

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The odds and trends are all pointing towards Toronto and the tide is quickly turning so you don't want to miss out. If you even wait until after Thursday's highly-anticipated matchup, you may be too late. 

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American University rides 25 points from Matt Rogers to Patriot League championship, 74-52 over Navy

Matt Rogers scored 25 points and second-seeded American University defeated Navy 74-52 on Wednesday night to claim the Patriot League Tournament Championship. Geoff Sprouse, Rogers and Colin Smalls all made 3-pointers as the Eagles pushed their lead from 11 points to 56-38 with 12 minutes left in the second half. The lead reach 20 on a tip-in by Rogers with about four minutes left and his 3-pointer with two minutes remaining made it 72-48.

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Raynaud, Blakes double up to help send Stanford past Cal 78-73 in 2nd round of ACC Tourney

Maxime Raynaud scored 23 points and Jaylen Blakes scored 21 points and seventh-seed Stanford beat No. 15 seed Cal 78-73 on Wednesday night in the second round of the ACC Tournament. Stanford (20-12) advances to face second-seeded Louisville on Thursday. Playing for a chance to reach overtime for the third-straight game and trailing 76-73, Cal's Mady Sissoko was called for a blocking foul attempting to set a screen for Andrej Stojakovic with 6.9 seconds remaining.

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Count On Auston Matthews, Maple Leafs Prevailing in Low-Scoring Affair Versus Panthers Thursday

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Thursday features a crucial matchup for playoff seeding when the visiting Florida Panthers travel to Toronto to take on the Maple Leafs with the Atlantic Division lead up for grabs. 

For bettors, this matchup provides a chance to capitalize on some of our recent strong trends, like our 8-6 record on our last 14 picks and our 15-6 record on our last 21 underdog picks. 

All betting lines are from Bet365 and are subject to change. Hockey is a difficult sport to predict so please gamble responsibly.

Florida Panthers vs Toronto Maple Leafs:

  • Under 5.5 goals (+105)
  • Maple Leafs ML (-110)

Both teams are looking for a much-needed win as they gave up multi-goal leads in their last outings with the Panthers more recently blowing a 2-0 lead in the third period versus the Bruins on Tuesday. They now have to travel and play a Leafs team that could overthrow them as the top team in the Atlantic with a win at home. 

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The Cats have allowed 16 goals over their last five road games and have dropped both of their previous two road games versus Toronto. The Maple Leafs have also struggled defensively with 28 goals allowed over their last seven games, which is fourth-most in the NHL during that span. 

This game has an over written all over it yet the line is still down at 5.5 which means that something else is affecting the line and the sportsbooks know something. We should be seeing a line at 6.5 with each team's recent trends but it could result of their history against each other with fewer than six goals in eight of their last 12 matchups. 

If we are continuing to go by history, the home team has won in this matchup five straight times and I would rather count on the Maple Leafs showing up rather than a Panthers team coming off a brutal loss like the one they took on Tuesday versus Boston. 

TSN (@TSN_Sports) on XTSN (@TSN_Sports) on XTHE FLORIDA PANTHERS HAVE ELIMINATED THE TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS IN 5 GAMES!

More NHL: Leafs Present Best Betting Value in Tight Divisional Race with Panthers, Bolts

The Cats have been red hot and are long overdue for a few losses plus Tuesday's game will be stop two of a six-game road trip that should make the Cats look more human starting with a loss on Thursday. 

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Deivon Smith questionable with shoulder injury for No. 6 St. John’s

Point guard Deivon Smith's status is uncertain for No. 6 St. John's heading into the postseason. Smith has been in and out of the lineup since January because of a nagging shoulder injury. The 6-foot senior practiced Tuesday and a little bit Wednesday, according to coach Rick Pitino. But he wasn't sure if Smith will play Thursday for the top-seeded Red Storm in their Big East Tournament quarterfinal against No. 9 seed Butler.