I’d be pretty surprised if the Leafs actually manage to make it out of the first round, but I’ll take the over here. All four playoff matchups between these two teams have gone over 6.5, as did two of the three regular season meetings. I like another high-scoring game tonight.

There is no tomorrow for either team. Yes I know Toronto leads the series 3-1 but the Leafs absolutely have to win this game because if they leave the door cracked for Tampa, well, we've seen bad things happen too many times before. On the other side the Lightning really are facing elimination and it's now or never...and this team has too many veterans to just give up. Long story short neither team can afford to sit on their skates tonight, every puck touched has to be fired at the net. The barn will be on fire, all garbage will be picked up around the net and we could even steal one or two late with a goalie pulled. Potential handshake game, give me all the insanity and let's cash it one more time.

Arguably the biggest proverbial monkey in the NHL can finally be lifted off the backs of the Maple Leafs on Thursday if they can advance past the first round for the first time since 2004. After the Lightning collapsed in the third period of their 5-4 OT loss in Game 4 at home, I sure think they are cooked. The Leafs hold a 3-1 lead in a best-of-seven series for the 14th time in franchise history. Toronto owns an all-time series record of 11-2 in the previous 13, including seven instances where the clinching win was earned in Game 5. Mitchell Marner (10 points) is the second player in Leafs history with a double-digit point total through four games in a playoff year. If Toronto does lose this and has to go back to Tampa, that monkey only gets bigger.