As people continue to bet on March Madness, others are enjoying the sports betting bonus role of spoiler that some NHL teams have assumed. The price per head hockey fans in Toronto were getting extremely excited when their team was closing in on the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. But something is going wrong again in Toronto, and the Maple Leafs are slipping away in the standings. A couple of more conference losses and the Leafs may find themselves too far on the outside looking in to make an impact. That is the spoilers show up.
In this drama, the spoilers are played by the New York Islanders. The Islanders were never able to get the goaltending they needed all season long to win games, and now find themselves completely out of the playoff race. The only comfort the Islanders have is that they may never fall so far as to take over last place in the Eastern Conference from the Ottawa Senators. But the Islanders have come out and publicly said that they enjoy the role of spoiler late in the season. When you have nothing else to hold on to, you may as well make other people’s lives miserable.
Toronto Maple Leafs
The Leafs were on fire and, at one point, they were only one point away from the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Even after going 6-1-3 in the last 10 games, the Leafs now find themselves falling to five points out of a playoff spot and the deficit seems to be getting wider. The Leafs need to win to keep pace with the Buffalo Sabres and New York Rangers. If the Leafs can piece together a couple of wins in a row, they should be able to overtake the stumbling Carolina Hurricanes for ninth place in the conference. The only thing Leafs have to watch out for is teams like the New York Islanders. Just because the Islanders sit in 14th place in the Eastern Conference does not mean that they are an easy target for the Leafs.
New York Islanders
The Islanders have been playing very well as of late. In the last 10 games the Islanders are 4-3-3 and just lost a game 3-2 in a shoot-out to the red hot New Jersey Devils. The Islanders have absolutely no answers at goaltender as injuries have kept out top goalie Rick Di Peitro for most of the season. When Di Pietro has played, he has been awful. So the Islanders have installed a revolving door in their net and keep letting players come and go. But through all of that, the Islanders still manage to play spoiler. This could be a very long night for the Leafs.
The Bottom Line
The Islanders have absolutely nothing to offer in the way of resistance for this game. They have no consistent goaltending, they cannot put the puck in the net when they need to and their defense is awful. But, still, the Maple Leafs will need to be on their game if they want these two important points. If Toronto is not careful, it will fall prey to the spoiler yet again.
Pick: New York Islanders.
