NHL Playoffs: Eastern Conference Injury Report
The NHL Eastern Conference matchups are set, with the Boston Bruins going up against the Florida Panthers, the Toronto Maple Leafs playing the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Carolina Hurricanes up against the New York Islanders, and the New Jersey Devils playing their rivals, the New York Rangers.
The Bruins are heavily favored to emerge victorious in the NHL’s Eastern Conference and compete for the Stanley Cup this season, followed by the Hurricanes and the Leafs, then the Devils and Rangers, according to most oddsmakers. BetMGM has them at 3.0, with the Leafs at 6.0, Hurricanes at 7.0, Devils at 7.0 and Rangers at 7.5.
Still, a lot of this will come down to the health of the individual teams. An 82-game regular season is a marathon and each playoff team is dealing with various aches and pains across their respective rosters. It’s also next to impossible to get an accurate assessment of a player’s health this time of the year so as not to tip off a playoff opponent.
So to get you ready to make your Stanley Cup playoff betting, we take a look at the injury front of the Eastern Conferece teams with the first round starting on Monday.
Toronto Maple Leafs
With the Leafs, it’s the health of G Matt Murray that’s the issue. He's out with a concussion. There’s no timetable on his return. G Ilya Samsonov has been banged up of late but should be good to go for the Tampa series. G Joseph Woll has been proving himself to be an emerging NHL goaltender in his own right. The Leafs have had a bunch of day-to-day guys – C John Tavares, C Sam Lafferty, D Erik Gustafsson, D Mark Giordano, but all should be available for the Lightning series.
Boston Bruins
G Linus Ullmark, LW Tomas Nosek, C David Krejc and C Patrice Bergeron are all day-to-day. Still uncertain if Ullmark will be ready for Game 1. Krejc is expected to be out until the end of April.
Florida Panthers
F Sam Bennett was placed on IR Friday, with a lower-body injury, believed to be a groin injury.
Carolina Hurricanes
F Andrei Svechnikov was placed on long-term injury reserve, out for the playoffs. He's looking at ALC surgery, according to team GM Don Waddell.
New York Islanders
The big unknown is C Mathew Barzal, who missed the final 23 games of the regular season with what was believed to be a knee injury but was on the ice with the two for their first post-season practice. D Alexander Romanov is also day-to-day with an upper-body injury.
Tampa Bay Lightning
LW Tanner Jeannot, whom the Lightning acquired along with many expectations in exchange for a ransom at the trade deadline, is a huge loss for them. He has a leg injury and it’s uncertain when he will return.
New Jersey Devils
C Michael McLeod is day-to-day with an undisclosed injury.
New York Rangers
No injuries to report.
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