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Puck Drop: 7:00 p.m. EST  |  Arena: Air Canada Centre  |  TV: Sportsnet |  Radio: TSN 1050


A banged-up Maple Leafs team will play their second of a back-to-back against an Edmonton Oilers team that lit up Montreal last night. Lineup changes are expected to be announced around game time.


Game Day Quotes

Mike Babcock on tonight’s opponent:

They have multiple high-end centres on this team. Real good talent level, so you’re going to have to play right and play well without the puck so you can have the puck a little bit. We got off to real good start against Edmonton and then got our foot off the gas last time we played them. So we want to have to same approach at the start but play 60 minutes.

Babcock on the Leafs‘ success this year in one-goal games:

Yeah, just sticking to it. You know where to stand and how to play right. I think we’ve gotten better at that, I really have. Even in last night’s game, they got so many shots, but when we got through the high quality scoring chances, we thought we did a pretty nice job last night. So, that’s important to us. You know, I just think having pride and doing it right and finding how to win. You learn how to win by winning all the time. Different guys make different sacrifices. Last night, Bozak’s line, for all intents and purposes, got us the win. That’s really good for our team. You want multiple lines being able to step up

Babcock on how the matchups are going to shake out and lining up Nazem Kadri in his favourite matchup against McDavid:

They played a tonne against Malkin last night. They decided to play Sid against Matty. You can’t control everything, so you do the best you can. At home, it’s a little easier. We played last night and had a hard night for two lines in particular. We played them a lot because they played their two groups so much. We’ve got to get everyone on the ice tonight and do a good job. That’s important for us, especially out of the gate. But, obviously, that’s a matchup we wouldn’t mind having.

Babcock on Auston Matthews’ status for the game:

He’s one of those guys who has the bumps and bruises. We’ve had a couple of guys that are… you know, it’s the season. You’re playing hockey. You just see who is available at game time.

Nazem Kadri on his success last year while matching up against McDavid:

Just being physical, trying to be around him at all times. As with any skilled player, you don’t like running into guys left right and centre when you’re skating out there, especially when you’re trying to generate room and time for yourself. When there’s someone always there, it gets frustrating.


Matchup Stats

TOREDM
Record19-10-112-15-2
GF/g3.43 (4th)2.96 (16th)
GA/g2.90 (13th)3.34 (26th)
PP%21.8% (6th)
18.4% (20th)
PK%81.0% (15th)72.1% (31st)
Shots/g30.9 (20th)34.2 (6th)
Shots Against/g34.0 (29th)30.8 (7th)
5v5 CF%50.0% (14th)53.7% (2nd)
5v5 SV%.928 (8th).916 (21st)
5v5 SH%10.1% (1st)7.7% (17th)

Toronto Maple Leafs Leafs Projected Lineup

Forwards
Marleau – Kadri – Komarov
Van Riemsdyk – Bozak – Marner
Hyman – Nylander – Brown
Martin – Moore – Leivo

Defencemen
Rielly – Hainsey
Gardiner – Zaitsev
Borgman – Polak

Goaltenders
McElhinney
Andersen

Scratched: Carrick, Soshnikov
Injured: Matthews


Edmonton Oilers Projected Lineup

Forwards
Lucic – McDavid – Puljujarvi
Maroon – Nugent-Hopkins – Cammalleri
Walker – Draisaitl – Slepyshev
Khaira – Letestu– Kassian

Defencemen
Nurse–  Russell
Klefbom – Benning
Auvitu – Gryba

Goaltenders
Brossoit
Ellis

Injured: Talbot, Sekera, Larsson