Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Chicago Blackhawks – Game #50 Preview, Projected Lines & TV Info

Puck Drop: 8:00 p.m. EST  |  Arena: United Center |  TV: SN Ontario |  Radio: SN 590

Game Day Quotes

Mike Babcock on Monday’s loss to Colorado:

Last game, I thought we had the puck a ton, but when I went through the scoring chances the next day and then this morning, they were too even for the amount we had [the puck]. We never got the puck to the net enough. Even though we had inside penetration, we never got the puck there. We’ve got to be more dangerous offensively, especially when we have the puck that much. Sometimes you don’t have the puck and you’re just checking. That wasn’t the case the other night. So we’ve got to generate more offence. Obviously, we’re playing a good team here today. Their high-end players have done a lot of winning, have a lot of pride. They’re going to be playing here tonight.

Babcock on what he’s looking for from the new look bottom line:

Speed. The other thing we’re doing is we’re trying to play 1-2-3-4, play at a little higher tempo. You saw when we had Matty out and we moved things around a little bit. We didn’t have as much. We think we can be quicker. Kappy’s a real good player. We think he’s an NHL player. He gives us some speed, gives us some PK. We’re looking to be quicker in that area.

Babcock on Carrick’s career development:

There’s two parts to it. There’s the part you guys watch with the scoring chances and the part I watch with the scoring chances against. Not only do you have to be able to play with it, but you’ve got to be able to play without it. If they’re playing with Matty, you don’t play in d-zone and you don’t sort it out in d-zone. In saying that, I don’t how many people remember watching him in the American League. In his last year when we sent him down to the AHL, he was a star. You bring him up and you say, “Who is this guy?'” It takes him two, maybe three years to get back being what they’re capable of being. You just got to hope they’re not on someone else’s team when that happens.

Babcock on how Matthew’s line has responded to their matchups this year:

The thing is what you saw from Matty the last couple games is his legs are back now. You can say what you want, when you’ve been out and then you have the break, it takes you a while. I thought they dominated the game the other night and I think that leads to doing it again. Now, he’s going to play against [Toews] all night long, and he’s going to do everything he can to make sure you don’t notice Matty. He’s got to battle.

Blackhawks head coach Joel Quenneville on whether there are some opportunities to exploit a Leafs blue line that is missing key personnel and is icing three rookies:

They play a real strong team game defensively and their d-zone coverage is pretty tight. I still think, no matter who we play against, we generate lots of offensive zone time. We definitely want to make them play dwon there. Hopefully coverage can be challenging for some young guys, but we’ve still got to get to the tough area. No matter who you’re going against, they are not going to make it easy on you. We’ve got to be willing to get there. You always talk about your opponent going in; I’m more worried about us tonight.

Matchup Stats

Toronto Maple Leafs Projected Lineup

*We have added goal, assist, and point totals for each player below the lines. Total goals per line are indicated, too, as well as save percentage for goalies.

Forwards

Hyman – Matthews – Nylander
  (49-8-17-25) – (40-21-15-36) – (48-9-24-33) Total: 38
Marleau – Kadri – Marner
(49-16-9-25) – (47-14-11-25) – (49-6-26-32)  Total: 36
Van Riemsdyk – Bozak – Brown
  (48-19-10-29) – (47-8-16-24) – (49-12-6-18) Total: 39
Komarov – Moore – Kapanen
 (48-4-10-14) – (31-4-5-9) – (6-2-0-2)  Total: 10

Defencemen

Gardiner – Hainsey
 (49-3-21-24) – (49-3-14-17) Total: 6
Dermott – Carrick
 (6-0-1-1) – (29-3-3-6) Total: 3
Borgman – Polak
(45-3-8-11) – (30-2-4-6) Total: 5

Goaltenders

Andersen (.920 sv%)
McElhinney (.916 sv%)

Scratched: Martin, Leivo
Injured: Soshnikov, Zaitsev, Rielly

Chicago Blackhawks Projected Lineup

Forwards

Saad – Toews – Duclair
  (47-13-10-23) – (47-14-17-31) – (37-9-7-16) Total: 36
Sharp – Schmaltz – Kane
(44-6-7-13) – (43-12-21-33) – (47-20-28-48) Total: 38
Debrincat – Anisimov– Hartman
  (47-14-14-28) – (37-13-5-18) – (43-7-13-20) Total: 34
Jurco – Kampf – Hinostroza
 (1-0-0-0) – (21-1-4-5) – (17-3-6-9) Total: 4

Defencemen

Keith – Oesterle
 (47-0-22-22) – (22-3-7-10) Total: 3
Gustafsson – Seabrook
 (2-1-1-2) – (46-2-11-13) Total: 3
Kempny – Murphy
 (21-1-5-6) – (42-1-7-8) Total: 2

Goaltenders

Glass (.909 sv%)
Forsberg (.907 sv%)

Injured: Crawford, Rozsival