NHL Matchup - December 10, 2007

Tampa Bay Lightning at Toronto Maple Leafs

Tonight’s clash with the Tampa Bay Lightning could be the perfect tonic for the Toronto Maple Leafs, who will be looking to bounce back after having their four-game win streak snapped Saturday.

The Lightning haven’t won at the Air Canada Centre in nearly four years, since a 7-2 shellacking of the Leafs on March 23, 2004. Since that game, the Leafs have won four straight at home and five straight overall against Tampa Bay, last losing to the Lightning on Jan 31, 2006, a 3-2 defeat in Tampa Bay. The teams last met on March 13, when the Leafs picked up a 3-2 home-ice win.
 
In their last game, Tampa Bay (13-13-3 SU) lost 3-2 to the New York Islanders in OT, while Toronto (12-12-6 SU) dropped a 2-1 decision to the Boston Bruins at home on Saturday.

Over/under bettors may want to take a long look at the over tonight – the total has gone Over in all five of Tampa Bay’s past five games, and Over in six of the past nine Tampa Bay-Toronto games.

Toronto is 9-1 SU in its past 10 games at home against Tampa Bay. Tampa Bay has just two wins on the road this season (2-10-1-0 road record).

Tampa Bay will likely have Johan Holmqvist in net, while Toronto will likely go with starter Vesa Toskala.

Online sportsbooks were reporting Monday that 58 per cent of wagers were on a Toronto win.

Betting Line: Toronto is a 135-moneyline favorite. The over/under is 6 at Bodog Life