This will be a special night for new Leaf Peter Holland, making his Leaf debut close to home in the ACC on Hockey Night in Canada.
Finding out you’ve been traded the day of, before heading to Toronto to play your first game in the ACC on HNIC just hours later, has to be a combination of exciting and nerve wracking that’s tough to wrap the head around.
He’ll also be playing a bigger role than he’s used to.
Over his four games, Peter Holland had the lowest TOI/game of any player to play for the Anaheim Ducks this season, clocking just above 9 minutes a game. He only received 39 seconds/game on the powerplay, as well.
That will change tonight, as he’s expected to either center Kessel and JvR or Clarkson and Lupul. We’ll know closer to game time. It may seem like asking a lot, but the Leafs are strung out down the middle and it’s against the Sabres. We don’t know for sure if JvR is returning to the wing, but it seems to be time.
The Leafs just have to keep plugging away. The goaltending continues to give them the chance to win, and their effort level wasn’t an issue last night, but the offense is understandably out of sorts. Hopefully the Leafs can break through with their first multi-goal game since their 4-2 win over Calgary at the end of October (yeah, been a while).
James Reimer starts for the Leafs. Jhonas Enroth goes for the Sabres.
A total guess at the lines:| Leafs Lineup | ||
|---|---|---|
| Left Wing | Center | Right Wing |
| JvR | Holland | Kessel |
| Lupul | Smith | Clarkson |
| Raymond | McClement | Kulemin |
| Ashton | Smithson | Orr |
| Left Defense | Right Defense | |
| Phaneuf | Gunnarsson | |
| Gardiner | Franson | |
| Fraser | Ranger | |
| Rielly? | ||
| Starter: Reimer |
