The Blackhawks have been waiting in Toronto since their shootout win over Ottawa on Thursday, but the good news is that Randy Carlyle was able to limit the minutes of his top guns in a convincing win over the Blue Jackets last night.
The Leafs will also be injecting some fresh legs on the fourth line in the form of Sam Carrick, who has probably had to wait 10 games too many to get this chance given the preseason he had. He’s hinted at maybe getting some looks on the Leafs‘ excelling penalty kill as well, but first and foremost, hopefully that fourth line with Carrick alongside Ashton and Holland can prove dependable enough for Carlyle to roll his lines somewhat against the 4-deep Blackhawks.
There’s obviously a lot that can hurt you on this elite Blackhawks team; two equally dangerous top lines, a bottom six with no shortage of talent, and a highly mobile D with offensive firepower. Carlyle will go power on power with this top six lines; the Leafs will need Daniel Winnik to continue to help the top line generate offensive zone time to keep the likes of Toews in his own end and a committed defensive shutdown effort from Nazem Kadri; same goes for the second line with Clarkson, Bozak and JvR as the dual threat of Sharp – Kane and Toews – Hossa require strong 200-foot games from both lines to get a point tonight.
Perhaps more than anything, a big night from the Leaf goaltender, likely James Reimer (assuming they rest rather than continue to ride the heating-up Jonathan Bernier), is their best shot at getting a result tonight.
Stiff test tonight in the second game in 24 hours.
Projected Lines
BLACKHAWKS
Patrick Sharp – Andrew Shaw – Patrick Kane
Kris Versteeg – Jonathan Toews – Marian Hossa
Bryan Bickell – Brad Richards – Jeremy Morin
Brandon Saad – Marcus Kruger – Ben Smith
Duncan Keith – Brent Seabrook
Johnny Oduya – Niklas Hjalmarsson
Trevor van Riemsdyk – Michal Rozsival
Corey Crawford
Antti Raanta
Scratched: David Rundblad
Injured: Daniel Carcillo (knee)
MAPLE LEAFS
Daniel Winnik – Nazem Kadri – Phil Kessel
James van Riemsdyk – Tyler Bozak – David Clarkson
Richard Panik – Mike Santorelli – Leo Komarov
Carter Ashton – Peter Holland – Sam Carrick
Dion Phaneuf – Cody Franson
Stephane Robidas – Jake Gardiner
Morgan Rielly – Roman Polak
Jonathan Bernier
James Reimer
Scratched: Matt Frattin
Injured: David Booth (foot), Joffrey Lupul (broken hand)
