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On Wednesday, the Los Angeles Kings and the Toronto Maple Leafs will compete against each other. The Kings will look to bounce back from an 8-7 loss to the Ottawa Senators on Monday, while Toronto looks to build on a two-game win streak that most recently saw them defeat the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday.
Both teams have high expectations for the season, with Toronto eager to finally make a deep playoff run under the leadership of newly-appointed captain Auston Matthews, who took over the captain role for John Tavares this summer.
On the flip side, the Kings are eager to bounce back from a tough postseason run, which saw them eliminated in the first round for the third straight year.
So far, the Kings have posted a 1-0-2 record this season, defeating the Buffalo Sabres in their season opener before then dropping back-to-back overtime losses to the Boston Bruins and Ottawa Senators.
On the flip side, the Maple Leafs started their season off with a narrow loss to the Montreal Canadiens, before then bouncing back with two straight wins, defeating the New Jersey Devils last Thursday, and the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday.
The big story heading into this game is Auston Matthews, who has been held to zero points through the team's first three games. Despite leading the NHL in goals last season with 69, Matthews has gotten off to a slow start.
Los Angeles Kings vs Toronto Maple Leafs odds
Ahead of tonight's game, the Toronto Maple Leafs are sitting as slight favorites on most major US sportsbooks. On FanDuel, for example, Toronto is a -170 favorite, while on the flip side, the Los Angeles Kings are +140 underdogs.
These odds are consistent with those seen on DraftKings as well, where the Maple Leafs are -175 favorites, and the Los Angeles Kings are +145 underdogs.
Los Angeles Kings vs Toronto Maple Leafs prediction
Given that the Toronto Maple Leafs are on a two-game winning streak entering the game against the Los Angeles Kings and that the team has won two straight despite Auston Matthews' scoring struggles, expect the Maple Leafs to win.
In addition, expect Matthews to score at some point during Wednesday's game. Given that he has 15 shots on goal, it appears that he will be able to score soon, giving the team some more momentum.
