Toronto Maple Leafs (27-36-11, 30th in NHL) vs. Tampa Bay Lightning (43-27-5, 10th in NHL)
Puck drop: 7:30 p.m. ET
Arena: Amalie Arena
Watch: Sportsnet Ontario
Game Day Notes
– Steven Stamkos is expected to start on the wing tonight with Val Filppula returning to the Lightning lineup at center.
– William Nylander has played 11 of 14 games since his callup on home ice, where Mike Babcock has been able to control his matchups with last change. A run of three games in four days on the road against some quality centers should be a good test for Nylander, who doesn’t have his first career road point yet.
– Garret Sparks starts for the Leafs coming off two consecutive wins vs. Buffalo and Anaheim. He stopped 26 of 28 (.928) versus Tampa Bay in a late February loss.
– Here is Stamkos on the Leafs, who beat the Lightning in a recent meeting on March 15: “The past couple of weeks they have had some new faces in the lineup that are bringing energy. They have beaten some pretty good teams. They are playing for jobs and we’re playing for a playoff spot. You can argue that one thing is just as important as the other. We went into Toronto a few weeks ago and got beat.”
Matchup Stats
| Overall Stats | Tor | TB |
|---|---|---|
| Points | 65 | 91 |
| Record % | 0.439 | 0.607 |
| Home Winning % | 0.443 | 0.614 |
| Away Winning % | 0.333 | 0.568 |
| Shootout Winning % | 0.5 | 0.5 |
| Goal Differential Per Game | -0.49 | 0.39 |
| Shot Differential Per Game | 0.72 | 0.47 |
| Hits Per Game | 26.8 | 20.2 |
| PIM Per Game | 9.3 | 9.2 |
| Opponent PIM Per Game | 8.8 | 10.1 |
| Goals Per Game | 2.36 | 2.77 |
| Even Strength Goals Per Game | 1.88 | 2.12 |
| Power Play Goals Per Game | 0.47 | 0.56 |
| Shots Per Game | 31 | 29.4 |
| Shots Per Goal | 13.1 | 10.6 |
| Team Shooting % | 7.60% | 9.50% |
| Power Play % | 15.00% | 16.70% |
| Goals Against Per Game | 2.85 | 2.39 |
| ES Goals Against Per Game | 2.09 | 1.8 |
| PP Goals Against Per Game | 0.65 | 0.49 |
| Shots Against Per Game | 30.27 | 28.89 |
| Shots Against Per Goal | 10.62 | 12.11 |
| Opp. Team Shooting % | 9.40% | 8.30% |
| Penalty Kill % | 80.20% | 83.80% |
| Save % | 0.906 | 0.917 |
| Goals Against Average | 2.8 | 2.36 |
| Shutouts | 4 | 6 |
| Opponent Save % | 0.924 | 0.906 |
| Opponent Goals Against Average | 2.33 | 2.74 |
| Opponent Shutouts | 8 | 5 |
Mike Babcock Game Day
Toronto Maple Leafs Projected Lines
Milan Michalek – Nazem Kadri – Michael Grabner
Zach Hyman – William Nylander – P.A. Parenteau
Brad Boyes – Tyler Bozak – Connor Brown
Colin Greening – Brooks Laich – Ben Smith
Martin Marincin – Morgan Rielly
Jake Gardiner – Connor Carrick
Rinat Valiev – Frank Corrado
Starting Goalie: Garret Sparks
Jonathan Bernier
Injured: Leo Komarov (lower body), Peter Holland (upper body), Nikita Soshnikov (upper body), Matt Hunwick (sports hernia), James van Riemsdyk (foot), Joffrey Lupul (sports hernia), Byron Froese (hand), Stephane Robidas (knee), Viktor Loov (upper body)
Scratched: None
Tampa Bay Lightning Projected Lines
Alex Killorn – Valtteri Filppula – Steven Stamkos
Ondrej Palat – Tyler Johnson – Jonathan Marchessault
Cedric Paquette – Vladislav Namestnikov – J.T. Brown
Erik Condra – Brian Boyle – Mike Blunden
Victor Hedman – Matthew Carle
Jason Garrison – Andrej Sustr
Nikita Nesterov – Braydon Coburn
Starting Goalie: Ben Bishop
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Injured: Anton Stralman (fractured fibula), Nikita Kucherov (foot), Ryan Callahan (lower body)
Scratched: Slater Koekkoek, Joel Vermin
