The Toronto Maple Leafs are back in action tonight against the Chicago Blackhawks. They come into tonight’s game on a nasty four game losing streak. While they are looking to turn things around, they will have to do so without Auston Matthews or Anthony Stolarz, who have both been placed on the injury reserve.
Related: Maple Leafs’ Defence Could Benefit From a Change of Personnel
Tonight’s game is yet another Original Six matchup, this time they are taking on the red hot Connor Bedard, who is showing all the doubters exactly what he can do. It’ll be interesting to see if the Maple Leafs can shut them down and stop the bleeding, or if they will have another horrible game and extend the losing stretch to five games.
Unfortunately, there are a lot of questions surrounding this Maple Leafs team and not a lot of answers. There is something off about them and it is hurting them badly. They currently sit in seventh in the Atlantic Division, just four points up on the Buffalo Sabres. In the Eastern Conference, they sit in fourteenth place, ahead of just the Washington Capitals and the Sabres. This is a far cry from a team that won the Division just one season ago. If they want to be competitive and get into the playoffs, they will need to fix whatever is wrong and quickly, or they could risk being too far out of the race in the new year.
Maple Leafs News:
The Maple Leafs have made a handful of moves over the last 48 hours. First, they have placed Matthews on the IR retroactive to Nov. 11. This is going to be a big loss, especially at the center position. In a corresponding move, they have called up Easton Cowan from the American Hockey League. However, it doesn’t look like he is going to draw into the lineup tonight. They also announced that they have activated goaltender Joseph Woll to their roster and sent down Artur Akhtyamov back to the AHL. He served as the backup to Dennis Hildeby against the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday night.
Today, they announced that they have claimed Troy Stecher off waivers from the Edmonton Oilers. He will report to the club and likely remain on their active roster, which will give the Maple Leafs nine NHL defensemen. In a corresponding move to the waiver claim, they have announced that Stolarz is heading to the IR as well retroactive to Nov. 11 against the Boston Bruins.
Lastly, the David Kampf saga has finally come to an end. He was placed on waivers for the purpose of a contract termination. And since he cleared yesterday, he is now eligible to sign with any other team. This morning NHL insider Darren Dreger reported that he has been contacted by teams that are interested and now his list is down to three teams.
Team Stats
Toronto Maple Leafs
Season Record: 8-8-2 (18 pts)
Top Scorers:
- William Nylander – 8 G, 17 A, 25 P
- John Tavares – 11 G, 12 A, 23 P
- Matthew Knies – 5 G, 17 A, 22 P
- Auston Matthews – 9 G, 5 A, 14 P
- Morgan Rielly – 2 G, 12 A, 14 P
Goalie Stats:
Anthony Stolarz – 6-5-1, 3.51 GAA, .884 SV%
Dennis Hildeby – 2-0-2, 3.81 GAA, .904 SV%
Joseph Woll – 0-1-1, 3.72 GAA, .885 SV% * AHL Stats *
Chicago Blackhawks
Season Record: 8-5-4 (20 pts)
Top Scorers:
- Connor Bedard – 10 G, 16 A, 26 P
- Tyler Bertuzzi – 9 G, 6 A, 15 P
- Andre Burakovsky – 7 G, 7 A, 14 P
- Teuvo Teravainen – 3 G, 9 A, 12 P
- Ryan Donato – 6 G, 5 A, 11 P
Goalie Stats:
Spencer Knight – 6-3-0, 1 SO, 2.46 GAA, .923 SV%
Arvid Soderblom – 2-2-1, 2.63 GAA, .913 SV%
Projected Lineups
(Subject to change before puck drop)
7 p.m. ET; CHSN, SNP, SNO, CBC
Maple Leafs Projected Lineup
Matthew Knies — John Tavares — William Nylander
Nicholas Robertson — Max Domi — Bobby McMann
Matias Maccelli — Nicolas Roy — Brandon Carlo
Dakota Joshua — Steven Lorentz — Calle Jarnkrok
Morgan Rielly — Brandon Carlo
Simon Benoit — Jake McCabe
Dakota Mermis — Oliver Ekman-Larsson
Joseph Woll
Dennis Hildeby
Scratched: Philippe Myers, Sammy Blais, Easton Cowan
Injured: Chris Tanev (upper body), Scott Laughton (upper body), Auston Matthews (lower body), Anthony Stolarz (upper body)
Blackhawks projected lineup
Tyler Bertuzzi — Connor Bedard — Andre Burakovsky
Teuvo Teravainen — Ryan Greene — Ilya Mikheyev
Oliver Moore — Ryan Donato — Colton Dach
Sam Lafferty — Nick Foligno — Sam Lafferty
Alex Vlasic — Louis Crevier
Wyatt Kaiser — Artyom Levshunov
Matt Grzelcyk — Connor Murphy
Spencer Knight
Arvid Soderblom
Scratched: Sam Rinzel
Injured: Frank Nazar (lower body), Jason Dickinson (upper body), Laurent Brossoit (hip)
