The Toronto Maple Leafs are back in action tonight to kick off their six game road trip with their first stop against the Montreal Canadiens. They come into tonight’s game after losing a tough one against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday night in overtime.
Related: 2 Takeaways From the Maple Leafs’ 3-2 OT Loss to the Blue Jackets
Although they lost, the last three games have been some of the best efforts that this team has put together. It started last Saturday night in their game against the Chicago Blackhawks and has carried forward into the game against the St. Louis Blues and the game against Columbus. Hopefully, they can take advantage of their long six game road trip and make up some ground in the Eastern Conference.
Maple Leafs News:
The Maple Leafs have been plagued with injuries over the last month. However, it looks like we could be close to seeing some of them return very soon. According to Craig Berube, Auston Matthews and Matthew Knies made the trip with the team to Montreal and took part in practice with the team. However, they won’t be playing tonight. He had this to say: “Same as it was yesterday. No change. They’re out there practising, which is good, but availability tomorrow is doubtful.”
As for the rest of the injured players, Nicolas Roy is skating on his own but is “probably still a ways away.” Anthony Stolarz and Brandon Carlo haven’t been on the ice yet, but Berube is hopeful that Carlo will start to skate on Monday. Lastly, Chris Tanev is still out “long term. In other news, the Canadiens called up Florian Xhekaj and he will make his NHL debut tonight. It is surprising that the Maple Leafs didn’t call up Michael Pezzetta to counteract the toughness that Montreal added to their lineup, which will make this game interesting to watch to see who, if anyone, either of the Xhekaj brothers try to fight.
Team Stats
Toronto Maple Leafs
Season Record: 9-9-3 (21 pts)
Top Scorers:
- William Nylander – 9 G, 18 A, 27 P
- John Tavares – 12 G, 15 A, 27 P
- Matthew Knies – 5 G, 17 A, 22 P
- Morgan Rielly – 3 G, 13 A, 16 P
- Oliver Ekman-Larsson – 2 G, 13 A, 15 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 – 1-1-1, 2.57 GAA, .923 SV%
Montreal Canadiens
Season Record: 10-7-3 (23 pts)
Top Scorers:
- Nick Suzuki – 5 G, 17 A, 22 P
- Cole Caufield – 13 G, 8 A, 21 P
- Lane Hutson – 2 G, 15 A, 17 P
- Ivan Demidov – 4 G, 11 A, 15 P
- Noah Dobson – 1 G, 12 A, 13 P
Goalie Stats:
Sam Montembeault – 4-5-1, 3.71 GAA, .852 SV%
Jakub Dobes – 6-2-2, 2.96 GAA, .892 SV%
Projected Lineups
(Subject to change before puck drop)
7 p.m. ET; CBC, TVAS, SNE, SNO, SNP
Maple Leafs projected lineup
William Nylander — John Tavares — Calle Jarnkrok
Bobby McMann — Max Domi — Nicholas Robertson
Dakota Joshua — Scott Laughton — Easton Cowan
Sammy Blais — Steven Lorentz — Matias Maccelli
Morgan Rielly — Oliver Ekman-Larsson
Simon Benoit — Jake McCabe
Dakota Mermis — Troy Stecher
Joseph Woll
Dennis Hildeby
Scratched: Philippe Myers, Jacob Quillan
Injured: Chris Tanev (upper body), Auston Matthews (lower body), Anthony Stolarz (upper body), Brandon Carlo (lower body), Nicolas Roy (upper body), Matthew Knies (lower body)
Canadiens projected lineup
Cole Caufield — Nick Suzuki — Zach Bolduc
Juraj Slafkovsky — Oliver Kapanen — Ivan Demidov
Florian Xhekaj — Jake Evans — Josh Anderson
Jared Davidson — Joe Veleno — Brendan Gallagher
Mike Matheson — Noah Dobson
Jayden Struble — Lane Hutson
Arber Xhekaj — Alexandre Carrier
Jakub Dobes
Sam Montembeault
Scratched: Joshua Roy
Injured: Kirby Dach (broken foot), Alex Newhook (broken ankle), Kaiden Guhle (lower body), Patrik Laine (lower body)
