Toronto vs New Jersey Prediction 17 January 2025

🔊 What happened to the "Maple Leafs". Toronto is still one of the leaders in the East but has unexpectedly hit a rough patch that could prove costly for the Canadians. New Jersey, on the other hand, is regularly collecting its routine points and continues its pursuit of the top spot in the conference. We are in for a clash of favorites in completely different forms.

📊 Head-to-Head

The opponents have met twice in the current regular season, and the "Maple Leafs" never gave a chance to doubt their superiority. The Canadian club secured two victories (4:2, 2:1 OT), with the first game being quite one-sided. Forward Steve Lorentz of Toronto made the most significant contribution to his team's success. The Canadian scored a goal and provided an assist. However, his current form cannot be called optimal, as he managed to score points only once in the last four matches.

🍁 Toronto

Craig Berube's team has hit a negative streak of results. The "Maple Leafs" have lost three consecutive matches and remain among the leaders of the Eastern Conference largely due to past successes. The numerous star forwards of the Canadian club have unexpectedly lost their aim. In the last three meetings, Toronto's offensive line managed only four goals. This is catastrophically insufficient for continuing the fight for the top spots in the conference. The coaching staff also needs to work on the defense. With the onset of the new calendar year, the team has started conceding much more.

😈 New Jersey

The "Devils" are struggling to overcome the consequences of a full-fledged but rather short-term crisis that hit them at the very beginning of 2025. Sheldon Keefe's team suffered four consecutive defeats and could have easily fallen out of the leading race. However, the team managed to overcome the difficulties and become even stronger. Right now, they have an active streak of four matches without defeat. Yes, there are only two wins in this stretch, against Seattle (3:2) and Tampa (3:2 OT), but even this can be considered a success. The visitors managed to escape the rough patch quite quickly.

🔗 Projected Lineups

Toronto: Woll - Tanev, Rielly - Marner, Matthews, Knies

New Jersey: Markstrom - Hamilton, Dillon - Noesen, Hischier, Meier

🥅 Goalies

Toronto's goaltender Joseph Woll is currently performing quite poorly. In the last three matches, the American managed to keep a save percentage above 90% only once and was essentially responsible for two consecutive losses: against Carolina (3:6) and Dallas (1:4). Yes, he has to play quite a lot due to Anthony Stolarz's injury, but this can hardly serve as an excuse.

New Jersey's goaltender Jacob Markstrom maintains high standards for himself, continuing to perform on the ice as effectively and efficiently as possible. In the last four matches, the Swede managed to maintain a save percentage of 90.6% and did not lose in regulation time. It is thanks to his actions at the last line that the "Devils" remain in the race for the top spot in the East.

📝 Editorial Prediction

Lately, both teams clearly tend towards minimal scoring in their matches. In the case of the "Devils," this trend is more disjointed but quite understandable. Hoping to emerge from the crisis, the club preferred to focus more on defense and concentrated on a defensive strategy with minimizing opponents' attacking activity. In eight of New Jersey's last nine away games, fewer than six goals were scored. Toronto also does not impress in attack lately and, in our opinion, will not break this trend. Our key bet is total under 6.5 goals.