The Stanley Cup Playoffs are here! After the long grind of an 82-game regular season, just 16 teams are left standing, vying for Lord Stanley’s Cup. It’s considered the best playoffs — and the best trophy — in sports for a reason, and that will be on full display over the next two months. Looking at the Atlantic Division, there are plenty of picks and predictions for the Maple Leafs vs Bruins and Panthers vs Lightning.
We’re going to be looking at some NHL playoff odds, picks, and predictions for each division, starting with the Atlantic Division.
NHL Playoffs Atlantic Division Odds, Picks, & Predictions
NHL Playoffs Odds, Picks, & Predictions: Florida Panthers vs. Tampa Bay Lightning
The Battle of the Sunshine State will once again take center stage in the postseason, with the Florida Panthers facing off against the Tampa Bay Lightning. These two interstate rivals met in the 2021 and 2022 postseasons, with the Lightning winning both series.
This could be the year that the Panthers finally knock off the Lightning, though. They made a Cinderella Run to the Stanley Cup Final last year and entered this postseason as the top seed in the Atlantic Division.
Panthers vs. Lightning Odds
Florida Panthers (-180) | Tampa Bay Lightning (+150)
Panthers -1.5 Games (+115) | Lightning +1.5 Games (-145)
Over 5.5 Games (-178) | Under 5.5 Games (+144)
The Panthers are fairly significant favorites in this first-round series. Odds of -180 imply a 64.29% probability of winning the series.
Panthers vs. Lightning Picks & Predictions
The Florida Panthers are a team that is built for the playoffs. They showed that last year when they upset the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Carolina Hurricanes before losing to the Vegas Golden Knights.
The Cats are locked and loaded again this year with much of that same roster plus trade deadline additions Vladimir Tarasenko and Kyle Okposo. They are deep both offensively and defensively, with Sergei Bobrovsky playing well in the net. Even if Bobrovsky has a hiccup, backup goalie Anthony Stolarz actually had better numbers than the man in front of him this season.
The Lightning can’t simply be overlooked, though. While they’re not the same team that won back-to-back Cups a few years ago, they do still have the same core of stars with Nikita Kucherov leading the way. Having a guy like him up front, Victor Hedman on the blue line, and Andrei Vasilevskiy in net makes Tampa Bay a tough out in any series.
But depth is key in the playoffs and that’s where the Lightning are lacking. Anthony Duclair and Matt Dumba were good pickups at the trade deadline, but the Bolts’ bottom-six and bottom-four defensemen leave much to be desired.
Panthers vs. Lightning Pick: Panthers -180 / Panthers -1.5 Games (+115)
Panthers vs. Lightning Prediction: Panthers in 6 Games (+450)
NHL Playoffs Odds, Picks, & Predictions: Boston Bruins vs. Toronto Maple Leafs
Oh boy, here we go again. The Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs are set to engage in an intense playoff series between two original six teams. The teams have met thrice in the last 11 years. The Bruins have won all three times in seven games (2013, 2018, 2019).
The Atlantic Division has two great matchups on tap for the first round.
Bruins vs. Maple Leafs Odds
Boston Bruins (-120) | Toronto Maple Leafs (+100)
Bruins -1.5 Games (+172) | Leafs +1.5 Games (-215)
Over 5.5 Games (-188) | Under 5.5 Games (+152)
The Bruins are only slight favorites in this series, with -120 odds, implying a 54.55% chance of winning.
Bruins vs. Maple Leafs Picks & Predictions
For a while it looked like the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs would avoid each other in the first round, but then the Panthers pulled ahead of the B’s to take the Atlantic Division and set up this great matchup.
The Bruins stumbled down the stretch, losing three of their final four games after a four-game winning streak.
They’ve been able to maintain their dominance in the Atlantic Division even without Patrice Bergeron, thanks to guys like Pavel Zacha and Charlie Coyle stepping up. It certainly doesn’t hurt to have a goalie tandem with Jeremy Swayman and Linus Ullmark. The B’s are also well-built on the backend. Defense is key in the postseason and Boston has a few pairs that it can rely on.
The Bruins’ strengths are the Maple Leafs’ weaknesses. Toronto doesn’t necessarily even have a set starting goalie, with Ilya Samsonov, Joseph Woll, and even Martin Jones potentially in the mix. It’ll likely be Samsonov, but while the Bruins may have a goalie controversy due to having two good options, the Leafs have the opposite problem.
The Leafs also don’t have the defensive depth that the Bruins do. That’s not to say that they can’t win in the postseason, but recent history hasn’t exactly gone their way.
This should be a great series no matter what — and a long one.
Bruins vs. Maple Leafs Pick: Toronto Maple Leafs (+100)
Bruins vs. Maple Leafs Prediction: Series to end in Game 7 (+200)
