Is tonight the night? The Toronto Maple Leafs (0-5-1) look for their first win of the season, as they take on the New York Rangers (6-1-0) at the Air Canada Centre. Will a change of routine help the Buds get of the schnide?
After Tuesday’s loss to the Avalanche, Ron Wilson gave the team a day off, followed by a day of fun & games in attempt to ‘reset’ and relax the team. Mike Komisarek also talked about changing his own pre-game routine in an attempt to change the Leafs‘ fortunes.
Will any of it matter? The Rangers are riding a 6-game winning streak and have outscored their opponents by a 2-to-1 margin this season. That doesn’t bode well for the Leafs, who fell to the Rangers by a 7-2 score on Monday night.
Hopefully the Leafs will get off to a better start tonight, as they’ve fallen behind 2-0 in 5 straight games. Another key will be avoiding undisciplined penalties and/or improving the penalty-kill.
Matt Stajan, Niklas Hagman, Wayne Primeau and Jeff Finger return to the lineup, as Jamal Mayers, Nikolai Kulemin and Garnet Exelby sit.
Forwards
Ponikarovsky Grabovski Hagman
Stalberg Stajan Blake
Mitchell Wallin Stempniak
Rosehill Primeau Orr
Defence
Kaberle Komisarek
Beauchemin White
Schenn Finger
Goalie
MacDonald
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