The Maple Leafs look to carry over a good effort from the first half of their home and home with the New York Islanders in game two at the ACC (7 p.m., TSN4).
With both of the Leafs‘ top six lines clicking along nicely at the moment, no lineup changes are expected up front. Frank Corrado is again the odd man out on defence.
In net, Bernier starts his seventh consecutive and is looking to make it four wins in his last five starts, while James Reimer is tabbed to return from his injury layoff tomorrow in Pittsburgh.
Who’s hot courtesy of NHL.com: Leo Komarov has five goals and eight points in his past six games … Bernier has three wins in his past four games and has helped the Maple Leafs earn points in five of his past six games … Michael Grabner has six points in his past five games … Ryan Strome has assists in back-to-back games … Brock Nelson has three goals in five games.
In addition, JvR has nine points in his last seven and Tyler Bozak is up to ten points in his last eight. John Tavares is a sleeping giant at the moment with three points in his last ten outings. Nazem Kadri — who has seven points in his last five — did the job in his matchup with Tavares on Sunday, keeping him off the scoresheet in 12 minutes of head to head action at even strength.
New York Islanders Projected Lines
Anders Lee – John Tavares – Josh Bailey
Brock Nelson – Mikhail Grabovski – Ryan Strome
Nikolay Kulemin – Frans Nielsen – Kyle Okposo
Matt Martin – Casey Cizikas – Cal Clutterbuck
Nick Leddy – Travis Hamonic
Calvin de Haan – Johnny Boychuk
Thomas Hickey – Marek Zidlicky
Thomas Greiss
Christopher Gibson
Injured: Jaroslav Halak (upper body)
Scratched: Brian Strait, Steve Bernier
Toronto Maple Leafs Projected Lines
James van Riemsdyk – Tyler Bozak – PA Parenteau
Michael Grabner – Nazem Kadri – Leo Komarov
Daniel Winnik – Peter Holland – Joffrey Lupul
Shawn Matthias – Byron Froese – Brad Boyes
Matt Hunwick – Morgan Rielly
Jake Gardiner – Dion Phaneuf
Roman Polak – Martin Marincin
Jonathan Bernier
James Reimer
Injured: Stephane Robidas (lower body), Nick Spaling (upper body), Garret Sparks (lower body)
Scratched: Frank Corrado
