Puck drop: 7:00 p.m. EST | Arena: Air Canada Centre | TV: TSN4 | Radio: TSN1050
Game Day Quotes
Chicago head coach Joel Quenneville on the rise of the Leafs:
They definitely have some great players. Some exciting guys up front. The learning curve of playing the right way and learning how to win is something they got some experience with last year making the playoffs. They’re in a real bright spot. It’s a fun team to watch. It’s definitely a challenge for us with how to approach it. They’ve got a lot of weapons up front. It’s fun being in the situation they’re in, but I’m not complaining about the situation we’re in.
Mike Babcock on the challenge presented by the Blackhawks:
They’re a good team. We do what we do every night. We prescout their team, we look at our team. We come up with a plan to have success against them. We’re excited to play them. We had two good games with them last year. They’re a talented group. They score like us but they defend way better.
Babcock on Jonathan Toews:
Last year, Panarin and Kane played together and he didn’t have as much support. Now that they got him support, I think you’re going to see him jump right back. What he does is he’s a conscience for your team. They don’t win any championships without that guy. He does it right every single day. The bigger the game, the bigger the moment, the better he plays.
On the need to improve defensively against a dangerous Hawks team:
The biggest thing is not even team defense. It’s what you do with the puck that puts you in bad spots. We’ve got to take care of the puck way better. We’ve got to play the whole 60 minutes against a good team. Any set plays — faceoffs, anything like that — you have to know what your job is. We’ve got to be better in that area.
We can be way better without [the puck]. We’ve given up 37 and 35 shots. That’s way too much. If that was 25 and 27, you’d be feeling good. Now, the first game we had eight penalty kills, so things get away from you a little bit. I don’t know if they counted by two in here the other night or not. We’ll check that over time here. But it’s important to keep your shots against and chances against down. We’ve got to do a better job.
Toronto Maple Leafs Projected Lineup
Forwards
Hyman – Matthews – Nylander
Marleau – Kadri – Komarov
van Riemsdyk – Bozak – Marner
Martin – Fehr – Brown
Defence
Gardiner – Zaitsev
Rielly- Hainsey
Borgman – Rosen
Goalies
Andersen
McElhinney
Scratched: Moore
Injured: Carrick
Chicago Blackhawks Projected Lineup
Forwards
Saad – Toews – Panik
Hartman – Anisimov – Kane
Sharp – Kero – DeBrincat
Bouma – Wingels – Hayden
Defence
Keith – Seabrook
Kempny – Murphy
Forsling – Rutta
Goalies
Forsberg
Crawford
Scratched: Schmaltz
