{"id":536727,"date":"2026-04-02T15:14:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T15:14:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/536727\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T15:14:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T15:14:18","slug":"close-contest-projected-after-new-data-released-for-thursdays-nhl-matchup-4-2-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/536727\/","title":{"rendered":"Close contest projected after new data released for Thursday’s NHL matchup [4\/2\/2026]"},"content":{"rendered":"

The San Jose Sharks will square off with the Toronto Maple Leafs, in what is expected to be a tight NHL game, at SAP Center at San Jose on Thursday, beginning at 10:00 PM ET.<\/p>\n

Based on the latest simulations, Dimers’ proven NHL model gives an equal chance for both both teams to win the Maple Leafs-Sharks matchup.<\/p>\n

This article offers an expanded analysis of Thursday’s Maple Leafs vs. Sharks<\/a> matchup, including projected goal scorers, best bets and player prop picks.<\/p>\n

Maple Leafs vs. Sharks prediction: Who will win and cover?<\/p>\n

Using trusted machine learning and data analysis, we have simulated the outcome of Thursday’s NHL game between the Maple Leafs and Sharks, forming part of our NHL predictions<\/a> coverage.<\/p>\n

Our leading predictive model can’t split the two teams, giving both the Maple Leafs and Sharks a 50% chance of winning the game.<\/p>\n

According to our model, the Maple Leafs (+1.5) have a 70% chance of covering the puck line, while the 6.5-goal over\/under has a 52% chance of staying under.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Maple Leafs vs. Sharks odds<\/p>\n

We have researched the best NHL odds<\/a> in America for this game, which are listed here:<\/p>\n

Bet Type
\nMaple Leafs
\nSharks<\/p>\n

Puck Line
\n+1.5 (-235)
\n-1.5 (+205)<\/p>\n

Moneyline
\n+100
\n-120<\/p>\n

Total
\no6.5 (-110)
\nu6.5 (-108)<\/p>\n

All odds are correct at the time of publication and are subject to change.<\/p>\n

Maple Leafs vs. Sharks picks and best bet<\/p>\n

After matching our predictions against the best current odds, we can reveal our picks for each of the major markets. Plus, find our best bet for the game below:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The San Jose Sharks will square off with the Toronto Maple Leafs, in what is expected to be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":536728,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5127],"tags":[5,4,519,168,5306,5305,1780],"class_list":{"0":"post-536727","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-jose-sharks","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-nhl","10":"tag-san-jose","11":"tag-san-jose-sharks","12":"tag-sanjose","13":"tag-sanjosesharks","14":"tag-sharks"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=536727"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536727\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/536728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=536727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=536727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=536727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}