Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Boston Bruins – Game #19 Preview, Projected Lines & TV Info

Puck Drop: 7:00 p.m. EST  |  Arena: TD Garden  |  TV: CBC  |  Radio: TSN 1050

Game Day Quotes

Mike Babcock on the game last night and the challenge visiting TD Garden:

The game last night — there wasn’t a lot of scoring chances either way, and there were sure not a lot of high-end scoring chances. We’d like to limit that again. I think it was very sluggish or clogged up — whatever you want to call it — early. Obviously, Boston is a way better team at home than they are on the road, at least that’s what their record indicates. We have to be ready for the first 10 minutes here tonight.

Boston starts with the puck a lot just because of Bergeron alone. They’ve got three high-end players up front. They’re tough to handle. In saying all of that, though, the quicker you execute on defense, the quicker you are on offense and the more fun the game is. You want to spend as little time as you can on defense. Our priority tonight is to get after their D. They’ll have the same priority.

On the ebbs and flows of offensive output and the games tightening up:

Yeah, the goalies usually get better and the teams usually tighten up. The specialty teams and the penalty kills usually get better. I think that’s part of it. I think you go through different cycles in the year. Sometimes goals are harder to come by. We went through a stage there where Mitchy and Bozak’s group and James weren’t scoring as much and weren’t playing as much. They seem to be back. That’ll help us offensively for sure. It’s always tight at times throughout the year. You’ve got to find ways to manufacture goals.

On Nazem Kadri’s game at home versus on the road:

That’s a good question. I’m going to ask him just what you said just like that. No, I mean, obviously at home he has a matchup and a specific job. They’re not going to let that happen. You’ve got to be determined in what you’re doing. We need him in both places, obviously.

Babcock on Patrice Bergeron:

If you lined Bergy up and did a race from end to end, it wouldn’t be pretty. But, because his brain is better than everyone else’s and he’s smarter than everybody else and he sees what is happening, he ends up being quick. Skating doesn’t seem to affect him. The other thing is he plays with two flying machines and that helps him as well. He has high hockey QI and he’s real intelligent and real competitive.

Babcock on his team’s performance last night:

I think it was a good game. I really thought Boston did a real good job, I didn’t think there was any room, there weren’t lots of plays. It was probably boring for the crowd but it was good for me, I liked it that way.

Babcock on Mitch Marner’s game on Friday:

It’s great to see Mitch be important at the end and get a couple points. He’s looking for some positive reinforcement from the game. If you work real hard, the game usually rewards you, so good for him

Babcock on the PK and the lack of personnel rotation on D:

We think our penalty kill has been better than we’ve been statistically as of late, but we’ve got to do a better job because we’re giving up too much. We’ll figure that out as time goes on. Maybe we’ve got to use more people. We’ll figure it out.

Matchup Stats

Toronto Maple Leafs Projected Lineup

Forwards
Komarov – Kadri – Nylander
Hyman – Marleau – Brown
JVR – Bozak – Marner
Martin – Moore – Leivo

Defencemen
Rielly – Hainsey
Gardiner – Zaitsev
Borgman – Carrick

Goaltenders
McElhinney
Andersen

Scratched: Polak, Gauthier
Injured: Matthews

Boston Bruins Projected Lineup

Forwards
Marchand – Bergeron – Pastrnak
Heinen – Szwarz – Bjork
Schaller – Nash – Acciari
Beleskey – Kuraly – Vatrano

Defencemen
Chara – McAvoy
Krug – Carlo
O’Gara – Miller

Goaltenders
Rask
Khudobin

Injured: Spooner, Krejci, Backes, McQuaid