NHL Betting Preview: Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Toronto Maple Leafs 

Thursday nights are always busy for those passionate about NHL betting. With an impressive ten games to choose from this evening, the best is an Atlantic Division showdown. 

The back-to-back Stanley Cup Champions Tampa Bay Lightning are headed to Toronto on Thursday to take on the  Maple Leafs. A series that has become must-see TV every time these two are on the ice together is about to write another chapter.

To nobody's surprise, the Leafs and the Lightning are two of the NHL's best yet again this season. Both teams sit with records well above the .500 mark, and both teams are coming off wins Tuesday night. 

The Lightning, who had a late-game surge in Montreal to grab a 3-2 win, are arguably the most impressive team in hockey right now with a record of 7-1-1 in their past nine games. The Bolts are doing it without arguably their two best forwards in Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov. 

Tampa's incredible depth allows this offense to be as potent as ever. Guys like Corey Perry have had four goals in the past five games. Tampa continues to hit the over, with the total hitting high in seven of their previous ten games. 

The Leafs were winners Tuesday night, beating Columbus 5-4, but just like Tampa, depth will be the name of the game moving forward in Toronto. 

Mitch Marner won't be available until the new year with a shoulder injury. Travis Dermott is day-to-day, and the same goes for Ilya Mikheyev, who could return against the Lightning, but nothing is confirmed as of Thursday morning. This week, Toronto took another significant blow when Jason Spezza got suspended for six games for a hit on Neal Poink earlier in the month. 

Toronto will have to depend on their superstars and trends Thursday night. This season, the Leafs have been incredible at home with an 11-3-1 mark, including a win against Tampa back in November. 

With the Leafs' home record, they are the favorites in this one, but we think this Lightning team is just too hot and too good, while Toronto is just simply understaffed at the moment. The Lightning depth shines again and hits the over. Bolts win 4-3 on the road. 

The Picks: Lightning Moneyline +116 | Total Goals: Over 6 | Corey Perry Goals: Over 0.5 (+490)