Last night’s game ended about an hour ago, so maybe the Leafs will pick up right where they left off.
Considering the Kings didn’t play yesterday, you’re not expecting much out of this one from the Leafs perspective. Points are a bonus.
The world champions are off to a relatively slow start to the season, something they’re familiar with from over the years, due to middling offensive production. Tyler Toffoli is their leading scorer with 23 points and is the only King with more than 20 points on the season. They’ve been particularly poor on the road, where they’re just 4-6-4 this season.
At 15-10-5, it’s doubtful the nucleus of the team that’s won two cups in the past three years is feeling any sense of panic. They’re among the league leaders in possession and goals against, and will almost certainly find another gear when the games start to get more serious.
Expectations should be low going into this, but it will be interesting to see if the Leafs can gut out a good performance in their toughest back to back of the season.
Projected Kings Lineup
Marian Gaborik – Anze Kopitar – Justin Williams
Tanner Pearson – Jeff Carter – Tyler Toffoli
Dustin Brown – Jarret Stoll – Trevor Lewis
Kyle Clifford – Mike Richards – Dwight King
Jake Muzzin – Drew Doughty
Robyn Regehr – Alec Martinez
Brayden McNabb – Matt Greene
Jonathan Quick
Martin Jones
Projected Leafs Lineup
James van Riemsdyk – Tyler Bozak – Phil Kessel
Daniel Winnik – Nazem Kadri – Mike Santorelli
Joffrey Lupul – Peter Holland – David Clarkson
David Booth – Trevor Smith – Richard Panik
Dion Phaneuf – Cody Franson
Jake Gardiner – Korbinian Holzer
Morgan Rielly – Stephane Robidas
James Reimer
Jonathan Bernier
