The Toronto Maple Leafs, by definition, are the closest team to a Stanley Cup right now.
Though they’re facing a slight advantage over six other NHL teams by being the only second-round series to have gotten underway thus far, the Leafs took one step closer to Lord Stanley’s mug on Monday night.
Picking up a 5-4 win over the defending Stanley Cup Florida Panthers in Game 1 of a rematch of the 2023 second round, Toronto became the first team this postseason to pick up five wins.
And the victory not only moved Toronto closer to winning the series, but actually edged them into Stanley Cup favourites, according to a popular analytics site.
By way of MoneyPuck.com’s predictive odds for the rest of the postseason, the Leafs now have the NHL’s best odds at 17.7 per cent chance of breaking their Stanley Cup curse.
Per the MoneyPuck model, Toronto had started the night with 13.9 per cent odds, third in the league behind Florida at 16.3 per cent and Carolina at 14 per cent.
The betting community had seen things a little bit differently.
Oddsmakers at FanDuel had given Toronto +1000 odds to win it all entering the series, tied for the longest shot along with the Washington Capitals and Winnipeg Jets, despite all three teams winning their respective divisions. Toronto has since bumped up to +700 odds after the victory, while the Panthers dropped from favourites at +410 to third in the league at +550.
With the three other series getting underway by Wednesday night — and the Leafs-Panthers Game 2 also just around the corner, who knows just how long the Leafs will be favoured for?
But for those looking for a bit of good news following the devastating head injury to Leafs goalie Anthony Stolarz that sent the Leafs goalie to the hospital, perhaps Toronto might just be able to rally for a deep playoff run this year.
Lead photo by
John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images