Who is favoured, Toronto Maple Leafs or Nashville Predators?

Nashville Predators, at 60.3% in PuckCast's preseason forecast. That is a rating-based forecast; the full model read, with goalies, rest and form, publishes within seven days of puck drop.

What is a preseason forecast?

A win probability from each team's regressed preseason rating and home ice, the same ratings behind the 2026-27 projected standings. Those ratings are calibrated at the season level, for standings and playoff odds; this single-game percentage is a plain rating formula and has not been graded on its own yet. It is deliberately unsure about any single game, and the confidence grade says how far it leans.

When does the real prediction publish?

Inside the seven-day window before the game. The model re-scores it on every refresh until puck drop, with the confirmed starting goalies, and this page shows that read instead of the forecast.

Toronto Maple Leafs at Nashville Predators, Thu, Feb 18: prediction and odds forecast

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2026-27 forecast · Thu, Feb 18, 8:00 PM ET

Toronto Maple LeafsTOR

85 proj. pts · 22.9% playoffs

Sergei Bobrovsky · 0.877 SV%

Bvs8:00 PM ET

Nashville PredatorsNSH

A preseason forecast from each team's regressed rating and home ice, the ratings behind the projected standings. The full model read, with the starting goalies, rest and form, publishes within seven days of the game and replaces this page’s numbers. How the model works

The read

Preseason ratings · last season’s record

NSH controlled play at 5v5 last season, 47.7% of the expected goals to 45.9%; NSH's power play ran at 23.1% against a TOR kill at 81.2%.

In goal, neither team has named a starter. Last season Juuse Saros (NSH) saved -28.0 goals above expected to Sergei Bobrovsky's -41.5, on save percentages of 0.894 and 0.877.

None of that is the model read. This is a rating-and-home-ice forecast; the full prediction — confirmed goalies, rest and form, priced against the market — publishes inside the seven days before puck drop and replaces these numbers. Nashville Predators over Toronto Maple Leafs is where it starts, not where it ends.

In goal

goalie board

No starter is named this far out. These are each side’s projected starters on the current roster, with last season’s numbers.

TOR

Sergei Bobrovsky

SV%: 0.877
GSAx: -41.5
GAA: 3.07
Record: 27-23-1

52 games, 2025-26

NSH

Juuse Saros

SV%: 0.894
GSAx: -28.0
GAA: 3.16
Record: 28-22-8

59 games, 2025-26

TOR	Metric	NSH
45.9%	xGF% (5v5)	47.7%
44.8%	Shot share	48.5%
3.1	Goals for / game	3.0
3.6	Goals against / game	3.3
21.3%	Power play	23.1%
81.2%	Penalty kill	81.7%
54.2%	Faceoffs	50.5%

Who drives it

2026-27 projected points

Toronto Maple Leafs

Player	Pos	G	A	Pts
Auston Matthews	C	40	39	79
William Nylander	R	31	43	74
Matthew Knies	L	24	37	61
John Tavares	C	25	33	58

Nashville Predators

Player	Pos	G	A	Pts
Filip Forsberg	L	32	36	67

Date	Game	Pick	Score	Result
2025-12-20	TOR @ NSH	TOR	TOR 3–5 NSH	Missed
2025-10-14	NSH @ TOR	TOR	NSH 4–7 TOR	Correct

Team	Proj. points	Playoff odds
Toronto Maple Leafs	85	22.9%
Nashville Predators	93	47.6%

Every pick is free. The Edge is the rest.

The read

In goal

Last season, side by side

Who drives it

Schedule around it

Last season, head to head

Season outlook