SAN JOSE SHARKS VS. TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS – 10/25/2019 FREE PICK & NHL BETTING PREDICTIONS

Toronto will have a definitive rest edge when they host the Sharks on Friday. San Jose is in action on Thursday night at Montreal whereas the Maple Leafs will have had 2 nights off before this matchup.

The Maple Leafs will take the favorable matchup. Mike Babcock’s team has lost two in a row and will likely be without John Tavares for at least another week. Toronto is 5 points back from the Sabres in the Atlantic.

San Jose Sharks

How can San Jose put anything together on leg two of their back-to-back? One good thing the Sharks have going for them is they are not facing the Sabres, who took both games of a home and home on 10/19 and 10/22.

Going into the Canadiens game on Thursday night, San Jose had won three straight prior to the Buffalo losses. two of the three victories came at the Shark Tank though as San Jose has gone just 1-3-1 in 5 road tilts this year.

Toronto has a great offense, but they’re a bit vulnerable on the defensive end of the ice. That’s good news for a Sharks team that is led by two defensemen (Brent Burns and Erik Karlsson) being their leading scorers.

The total for Friday’s game is 6.5 and Toronto could push a lot of that number themselves based on how San Jose has been playing defense. Aaron Dell gets the start on Thursday which means Martin Jones is in net on Friday.

Jones has had his struggles this season to say the least. He is 2-5 with a 3.46 GAA as well as a sub .900 save percentage. Jones has allowed 4+ goals in 5 of 7 games on the year.

Toronto Maple Leafs

Toronto has been very mediocre on the season and that’s been evidenced by a 3-2-1 record over their last 6. The Blue Jays come into Friday’s game having dropped an OT game at home vs. Columbus as well as a loss at Boston.

The Sharks are going with a struggling Martin Jones in this matchup which is good news for the Toronto offense. The Maple Leafs rank in the top 10 in goals, SOG, PP, and face offs won and those rankings should improve here.

The Maple Leafs were victorious 5-3 when the teams met last November. Mitch Marner had 3 points in that game and Auston Matthews also netted 2 goals.

While Toronto’s offense is an asset in this one, their defense has been struggling a bit ranking 25th in goals against at 3.5 per and 26th in SOG giving up 33.7 per game.

Frederik Andersen is the expected starter in goal for Toronto. He has gone 5-2-1 on the year with a .901 save percentage. Andersen has allowed 4 goals and 7 goals in 2 games over his last 5 starts.