The Toronto Maple Leafs will need to overcome a tough scheduling turnaround as they visit Brooklyn for a Sunday evening meeting with the New York Islanders.
The Islanders have struggled early in the season (3-5-0, 15th in the Eastern Conference) but are on two days rest coming into tonight, having last played Thursday night versus the Penguins (4-2 loss). They will host a Leafs team playing its second game in under 24 hours, with some travel in between and an early start time to boot (6 p.m. EST). Mix in the often-sketchy Barclays Centre ice quality and this game could be a sloppy one.
Game Day Notes
– Leafs vs. Islander games have often featured Nazem Kadri storylines, for whatever reason, over the past several years. Drafted six spots behind him in the 2009 draft, Kadri was asked about the John Tavares comparison before an October, 2014 meeting and the quotes made for some sensationalist headlines in the Toronto media. Later that season, Kadri was scratched for a March meeting against the Islanders after showing up late to a team meeting. Kadri has also had some big games against the Islanders over the past four years with five multi-point games in 13 total meetings, including a hat trick on Long Island in 2013. Kadri seems to get up for these head-to-heads against Tavares and Mike Babcock will no doubt look to match them up when he can.
– Jhonas Enroth will start his second game of the season, having lost his first start to the Minnesota Wild 3-2, also in a back-to-back situation.
– Matt Martin will play against his former Islanders squad for the first time after leaving the organization that drafted him as a UFA on July 1.
“Some guys might want their old teams to fail, I guess. I’m not that way. These guys are all my friends still. I want to see them succeed in the worst way. If the Leafs can’t win the Stanley Cup, then I want the Islanders to win it. Heck, if we’re out, I’d probably be in the stands at Barclays in a Casey Cizikas jersey. I made Long Island my home.”
– Matt Martin
Toronto Maple Leafs Projected Lines
Forwards
Leo Komarov – Nazem Kadri – Seth Griffith
van Riemsdyk – Tyler Bozak – Mitch Marner
Zach Hyman – Auston Matthews – William Nylander
Matt Martin – Ben Smith – Connor Brown
Defencemen
Morgan Rielly – Connor Carrick
Jake Gardiner – Roman Polak
Martin Marincin – Nikita Zaitsev
Scratched: Frank Corrado, Peter Holland
Injured: Josh Leivo, Matt Hunwick
Goaltenders
Starter: Jhonas Enroth (Confirmed)
Backup: Frederik Andersen
New York Islanders Projected Lines
Forwards
Anthony Beauvillier – John Tavares – Josh Bailey
Shane Prince – Brock Nelson – Andrew Ladd
Anders Lee – Ryan Strome – Alan Quine
Jason Chimera – Casey Cizikas – Cal Clutterbuck
Defencemen
Nick Leddy – Travis Hamonic
Thomas Hickey – Johnny Boychuk
Calvin de Haan – Dennis Seidenberg
Goaltenders
Starter: Thomas Greiss (Confirmed)
Backup: Jaroslav Halak
