The Boston Bruins (10-6-0) are in town tonight to take on the Toronto Maple Leafs (8-5-2)
After getting totally embarrassed and boo’d off the ice in their last game against Boston on October 26, the Maple Leaf players held a closed door meeting and have since lost only one game in regulation. Toronto looks to extend their winning streak to three games and their point streak to four. Toronto is 6-2-2 in their last 10 games; is Boston is red hot and 8-2-0 in their last 10 games, riding a 5 game winning streak.
Toronto looks to be starting Jonathan Bernier tonight, who has a poor record vs Boston. In 5 career games, Bernier has a 4.46GAA, .876sv% and has only won one game vs the Bs. He played poorly and was chased from the net in the last meeting between the two teams.
Curiously, James Reimer will not be starting, despite playing 12 games vs Boston with a 2.64GAA and a .921sv%..
Daniel Winnik will draw back into the lineup after a terrifying collision with Jan Hejda knocked him out cold, when he landed awkwardly on his head. Presumably, he will play on a line with David Clarkson and centered by Nazem Kadri. Winnik will be a welcome return for the Maple Leafs. At evens, he provides dogged puck pursuit, excellent board work, puck management and defensive acuity for a line that is not well known for such traits. It should be a very good possession line with Kadria nd LThis on top of making up half of an excellent penalty kill forward duo with Leo Komarov.
It does look like the top line of old will remain together for now, although that could change quickly depending on how the game plays out. The numbers, both possession stats and scoring chances, suggest the top line was less of a defensive detriment when it was Kadri with Winnik and Kessel and JvR with Bozak and Clarkson.
Regardless, this will likely push Richard Panik back to the fourth line with Josh Leivo and Trevor Smith. Panik was able to make good on a big opportunity with top-6 minutes, potting three goals and looking like he belonged, whereas he didn’t look so good in a lower capacity on the 4th line. Hopefully his new found confidence translates to his position on the 4th and in, presumably, reduced minutes.
There has been a different look on defence in practice, with Stephane Robidas looking to play with Morgan Rielly and Jake Gardiner to playing with Roman Polak. There was also one trial of Stephane Robidas playing on a top pairing with Dion Phaneuf on Tuesday.
Toronto vs Boston Since 2013-2014
| Season | Date | Home/Away | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013-14 season: | Sat Nov 9 2013 | at Bos | Bruins 3 vs. Leafs 1 |
| 2013-14 season: | Sun Dec 8 2013 | at Tor | Bruins 5 at Leafs 2 |
| 2013-14 season: | Tue Jan 14 2014 | at Bos | Leafs 4 at Bruins 3 |
| 2013-14 season: | Thu Apr 3 2014 | at Tor | Leafs 4 vs. Bruins 3 |
| 2014-15 season: | Sat Oct 25 2014 | at Tor | Bruins 4 vs. Leafs 1 |
Toronto’s projected lineup
Forwards
James van Riemsdyk – Tyler Bozak – Phil Kessel
Daniel Winnik – Nazem Kadri – David Clarkson
Leo Komarov – Peter Holland – Mike Santorelli
Richard Panik – Trevor Smith – Josh Leivo
Defence
Dion Phaneuf – Cody Franson
Jake Gardiner – Roman Polak
Morgan Rielly – Stephane Robidas
Jonathan Bernier
James Reimer
Scratched: Matt Frattin
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Boston is currently on a big roll right now. They have, however, faced some fairly soft competition in the Devils (7-7-2), Oilers (6-9-1), Panthers (5-4-4), Senators (7-4-4) and Jets (8-6-2) in their 5-game winning streak.
They will be without Zdeno Chara and David Krejci.
Boston’s projected lineup
Forwards
Milan Lucic – Chris Kelly – Seth Griffith
Brad Marchand – Patrice Bergeron – Reilly Smith
Matt Fraser – Carl Soderberg – Loui Eriksson
Simon Gagne – Gregory Campbell – Daniel Paille
Defence
Dennis Seidenberg – Dougie Hamilton
Joe Morrow – Adam McQuaid
Torey Krug – Zach Trotman
Tuukka Rask
Niklas Svedberg
Scratched: Matt Bartkowski
Injured: Zdeno Chara (knee), David Krejci (lower body), Kevan Miller (shoulder)
