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Tyler Bozak is expected to return to the top line between James van Riemsdyk and Phil Kessel tonight as the Leafs close out a five-game homestand against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

As much as Dave Bolland was off to a great start for the Leafs in an expanded role, he has to be an afterthought for the team given the length of his recovery time. This is as healthy as the Leafs are going to get for a long time, so let’s hope to start seeing them play some of their best hockey.

Last meeting:

The last time out against the Blue Jackets, exactly a month ago today, the Leafs fell 5-2 in David Clarkson’s debut game. The Leafs took way too many penalties, six throughout the game, and it seemed to repeatedly kill their momentum any time they had a good shift or two. A loss in the special teams battle proved costly as they conceded one powerplay goal and allowed a shorthanded goal in the third period. So did a few bad third-period turnovers leading directly to goals.

Overall, the move to the weaker East hasn’t changed much for the Blue Jackets, however, as they’re struggling in every major category. Much like baseball’s BJs, these guys are flaccid. They’re bottom 10 in goals for, goals against, five-on-five goal differential, powerplay, penalty kill, shots for and shots against. Losing Marian Gaborik for a month to six weeks with a knee injury won’t help them turn things around any time soon either.

Gotta be Startin’ Reimer:

The league’s save percentage leader, James Reimer, will get the start for the Leafs, his first pair of consecutive starts in the month of November. Saturday night’s 49-save performance was a statement game for Optimus and one he’ll look to build on tonight. One of the amazing stats kicking around Twitter after the game was the nugget that, of the 4 occasions a goalie has won while facing 49 shots or more since Reimer entered the league in January of 2010, Reimer was responsible for three of them.

Indeed, 50 shots is crazy, but the more bizarre part is that it’s not all that far out of the typical range of rubber Reimer has faced on a game by game basis this season. Here is the breakdown of the 8 games Reimer has played start to finish:

OpponentResultMINWLGAASASV%
WASW 2-165100.92500.980
BUFW 4-260102.01350.943
@ BOSL 1-360012.01330.939
@ VANL 0-460014.00470.915
@ EDMW 4-060100.00431.000
PITW 4-160101.00380.974
MINW 4-160101.00370.973
@ MONW 4-360103.01370.919
Average1.7440.955

40 shots per game on average. Bernier, in his 13 games played from start to finish, has averaged 33.5 shots against.

Maybe Reimer will get a reprieve tonight:


***

Projected Lineup:

– Peter Holland and Paul Ranger are expected to sit. Meaning, Carlyle will stick with Raymond, McClement and Kulemin as his checking line and McLaren, Smithson and Orr as his fourth line. On D, Rielly will stay in the lineup on Fraser’s right.

Projected Lineup
Left WingCenterRight Wing
JvRBozakKessel
LupulKadriClarkson
RaymondMcClementKulemin
McLarenSmithsonOrr
Scratched: Holland, Smith
Left DefenseRight Defense
PhaneufGunnarsson
GardinerFranson
FraserRielly
Scratched: Ranger
Goalies
Starter: Reimer
Bernier
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Alec Brownscombe is the founder and editor of MapleLeafsHotStove.com, where he has written daily about the Leafs since September of 2008. He's published five magazines on the team entitled "The Maple Leafs Annual" with distribution in Chapters and newsstands across the country. He also co-hosted "The Battle of the Atlantic," a weekly show on TSN1200 that covered the Leafs and the NHL in-depth. Alec is a graduate of Trent University and Algonquin College with his diploma in Journalism. In 2014, he was awarded Canada's Best Hockey Blogger honours by Molson Canadian. You can contact him at alec.brownscombe@mapleleafshotstove.com.