The regular-season finale between the Rangers and Maple Leafs has all of the ingredients for a barn burner.
As if the previous two meetings didn’t already feature enough intrigue, the NHL’s trade deadline is lower than per week away and each teams are surging toward the playoffs.
Saturday’s puck drop should make for a telling litmus test between two major markets with expectations high because the sky after disappointing finishes last season.
The Leafs have won eight of their last nine games, outscoring their opposition 44-25 in that span.
Auston Matthews is coasting his option to the Rocket Richard Trophy as he leads the league in scoring with 53 goals — 12 greater than Florida’s Sam Reinhart, who’s in second with 24 games left on the schedule.
Each Matthews and John Tavares are players who rank throughout the top seven in expected goals this season. Matthews is No. 1 at 36.9.
For the reason that All-Star break, Toronto has been humming to this type of premiere goal scoring.
The Leafs are burying 3.66 goals and are running a volcanic power play that’s cashing in at a 28.9 percent rate.
The one other team deserving of equal praise over the past month is the Rangers, who’ve seized 11 of their last 12 games.
They’ve gained a five-point lead within the cutthroat Metropolitan Division with lights-out special teams and improved goaltending.
The Recent York street racket is at all times quick to lambaste those that show any shades of regression.
That was the theme of the season for Igor Shesterkin until he returned to form, posting a goals against average of 1.72 and stopping greater than 95 percent of shots faced in February.
Palms might be faraway from inside striking range of the panic button because the Rangers are back to playing confident hockey in front of their No. 1 goaltender.
Shesterkin has not lost a start since Jan. 26 and the Rangers have unleashed a plus-14 goal differential in those seven games.
The Rangers have also been jamming on the facility play; scoring at a 25 percent rate with the person advantage.
The offense has kept the Blueshirts atop the division all season, even of their unsavory games.
They’re scoring 3.33 goals per night with a No. 8-ranked shooting percentage due to Artemi Panarin’s MVP campaign and a 3rd straight season of 30-plus goals from Chris Kreider.
Recent York might just be one of the best team in hockey at once, however the subtle worry for the Rangers stays similar to they struggle to play complete games with five-on-five dominance.
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Even in Wednesday’s 4-1 win over the despondent Blue Jackets, they relinquished the momentum to Columbus within the waning minutes of the sport.
Toronto followed an identical script at five-on-five of their 4-2 win over the Coyotes on Thursday.
You’ll be able to draw a number of parallels between these teams, but probably the most revealing is how much their star-studded lineups pour it down on the facility play.
Search for the over to money for the third time on this Original-Six matchup.
Pick: Over 6.5 goals (+100, DraftKings)