Scheduling doesn’t get much tougher than this: The Maple Leafs will take on a rested Pittsburgh Penguins team on the road in the second half of a back-to-back tonight on Hockey Night in Canada.
Here’s the quick and dirty rundown:
– The Maple Leafs are 0-2 in the second half of a back-to-back so far this season, including a 5-1 loss to the New York Islanders and a 3-2 loss to the Minnesota Wild.
– It looks as though Mike Babcock has made the statistically frowned-upon decision to start a goaltender twice in a back to back. Frederik Andersen is the probable starter, according to LeafsTV’s Paul Hendrick. Matt Murray (3-0-0, 1.33 GAA, .957 SV%, one shutout) will go for the Penguins.
– Hendrick has also indicated all three of Frank Corrado, Matt Hunwick and Peter Holland could be getting into the lineup as fresh legs in the back-to-back. Corrado has been a healthy scratch for the opening 14 games, Holland has been a healthy scratch for the last eight, and Matt Hunwick missed the last eight due to injury. Expected to make way: Ben Smith, Connor Carrick, and Roman Polak.
– After appearing just three times for the Leafs, Seth Griffith has been claimed off of waivers by the Florida Panthers. The Leafs are down to 48 Standard Player Contracts and are sitting $906,000 below the cap with the Jared Cowen arbitration outcome still pending.
– The Year of The Phil: The way the past year and a half has played out for Kessel following his acrimonious exit from Toronto — one that included a smear campaign in the media on his way out the door — is one of the best hockey storylines of 2016. He won a Cup, was given a shout out by Barack Obama at the White House, annihilated USA Hockey in 140 characters or less, and became a folk hero among his teammates and the Pittsburgh fan base.
After a slow start his Penguin career last season, Kessel has 13 points in his opening 14 games, which gives him 73 points in the calendar year of 2016 (83 games).
Toronto Maple Leafs Projected Lines
Forwards
Leo Komarov – Nazem Kadri – Connor Brown
van Riemsdyk – Tyler Bozak – Mitch Marner
Zach Hyman – Auston Matthews – William Nylander
Matt Martin – Peter Holland – Nikita Soshnikov
Defencemen
Morgan Rielly – Nikita Zaitsev
Jake Gardiner – Frank Corrado
Matt Hunwick – Martin Marincin
Scratched: Roman Polak, Ben Smith, Connor Carrick
Goaltenders
Starter: Frederik Andersen
Backup: Jhonas Enroth
Pittsburg Penguins Projected Lines
Forwards
Carl Hagelin – Sidney Crosby – Patric Hornqvist
Chris Kunitz – Evgeni Malkin – Phil Kessel
Scott Wilson – Nick Bonino – Bryan Rust
Conor Sheary – Matt Cullen – Eric Fehr
Defenceman
Brian Dumoulin – Kris Letang
Olli Maatta – Trevor Daley
Ian Cole – Justin Schultz
Goaltenders
Starter: Matt Murray
Backup: Marc Andre Fleury
