Home Leafs News Game Day Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Detroit Red Wings – Game #34 Preview,...

Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Detroit Red Wings – Game #34 Preview, Projected Lines & TV Info

Dec 15, 2017

Puck Drop: 7:30 p.m. EST | Arena: Little Caesars Arena | TV: TSN | Radio: SN 590

Game Day Quotes

Red Wings head coach Jeff Blashill on the Leafs‘ talent level despite their lack of scoring recently:

They still have lots of dangerous, dangerous players. I think they’re one of the deepest teams up front in the league, without question. Any time you have a Mitch Marner spend time on your fourth line, that tells you the kind of depth that you have front. So they’re a dangerous hockey team no matter what up front. Auston Matthews is without question one of the best players in the league already, so certainly that’s a big piece. They’ve got guys like Marleau who’s been a career elite elite player in this league. I think Nylander’s one of the best players in the league.

They’ve got a great forward group up front that we’re going to have to make sure we’re making them defend. If they have the puck lots and they’re attacking you lots and they get you on your heels, you’re in trouble. We better get them on their heels.

We need to get them on their heels with our forecheck pressure, much the way we’ve played the last few games. The last four games, I think we have done a good job of that.

Anthony Mantha on the matchup:

They have a great offense. We know it. They can score a lot of goals. We need to be ready defensively. We need to put them on their heels instead of them putting us on our heels.

Mike Babcock on Auston Matthews’ status (out for tonight);

I said this the other day: I saw Auston today, and I said, “How are you doing.” Like a “good morning” kind of thing. That’s it. We’ve got a full medical staff and they’ll let me know [when Matthews is ready]. He’s been doing everything he’s supposed to and working out and doing all of those things. Now it’s just a matter of when he’ll be ready to play.

Mike Babcock on Josh Leivo’s status (also out for tonight);

“I thought Leivs played well the last couple of games he has played in. Now Kappy gets a chance. What can he do?”

Mitch Marner on the team learning how to score in tight-checking games:

I think this is just another learning experience. [The Wild game] was another playoff-like hockey game with how hard they pack it [in the middle] and in the neutral zone. I think we’ve just got to get over this little [slump] that we are on right now and get back to playing how we can.

I think we’re doubting ourselves too much right now. We’re not trusting ourselves with the puck. I think everyone in general here has a lot more skill than we all think [right now].

Marner on the most recent line combinations:

Everyone is comfortable playing with each other in this room. We all have a lot of skill and believe in each other. We had chances out there [vs Minnesota] — every single line.

Matchup Stats

	TOR	DET
Record	20-12-1	11-13-7
GF/g	3.21 (7th)	2.61 (28th)
GA/g	2.81 (12th)	3.25 (26th)
PP%	21.2% (6th)	20.4% (9th)
PK%	82.1% (13th)	82.4% (11th)
Shots/g	30.3 (23rd)	31.0 (18th)
Shots Against/g	34.1 (29th)	32.0 (20st)
5v5 CF%	49.6% (16th)	49.6% (15th)
5v5 SV%	.929 (8th)	.912 (28th)
5v5 SH%	9.6% (2nd)	7.1% (23rd)