Ron Puck Drop: 7:00 p.m. EST | Arena: TD Garden | TV: CBC | Radio: TSN 1050
With only three goals against in their last four games, the Toronto Maple Leafs are getting injured defensemen Ron Hainsey and Morgan Rielly back just in time for a playoff home-ice battle against the high-flying Boston Bruins.
Game Day Quotes
Mike Babcock on the development of the Marlies adding to the depth of the organization:
Yeah, I don’t think it’s a problem at all. I just think it’s good to have. If we can have them there for a long period of time, when they come up, they can help you. Anybody who’s been in the National Hockey League knows the measure is not one or two games. Everybody has one or two games, but it’s your level water mark — what you do over 82 nights and how you can compete on a regular basis. That’s why the stars are the stars — they have the mental toughness to do it all the time. It’s not just their skill set. You know, it’s a challenge for all young guys, but they’ve done a good job.
Babcock on Dermott:
I like his skill set, OK? I don’t like the chances against. There’s two parts to the equation; there’s the skill set, he’s got quick twitch and he’s a good passer and all that, but I go through all the chances every game. And so, when you’re involved in the chances too much, that’s the part he’s got to figure out. So he’s got to learn how to sort out in his own zone, but he will over time.
Babcock on the Bruins hot streak and what his team can learn from them:
I like their game. I think they play well. I think they’ve got unbelievable leadership in Bergeron, Chara, and Krejci in key positions for them. They’ve got good kids that are good players and do it right. Marchand’s not playing tonight; he’s a star. Pastrnak’s a good player. But they play fast, they play right, they’ve got good pace to them.
Ron Hainsey on the team’s four-game winning streak:
We’ve been playing pretty good for a while. We went on a stretch there in January where we were playing pretty good and starting to show signs of playing better and really didn’t score much. In the last four, we’ve certainly put some pucks in the net.
The Dallas game on a back to back, we thought, was really good. I can’t say much about the Islanders game because I was sleeping through most of that, but the Rangers game looked great. I thought everybody up and down the lineup… the D with the two young guys stepping in and playing in big minutes, and the forwards did a good job. If we needed a big save or two, the goalies were there. It really was great work up and down throughout the lineup, I thought.
Hainsey on pushing for home-ice advantage in the divisional playoff seeding:
You certainly want it. We’re chasing a team… Both teams ahead of us have games in hand, so it’s a little bit of a hill to climb there. But certainly you’d prefer to get home ice if you can. Boston just went on one heck of a run — it got broken up this week, but 18 games with a point. A team that does that makes it very difficult to catch and you’ve got to do something similar to catch them. We’ll keep pushing for that. If you end up in a series like that with Boston or Tampa and it goes six-seven games, home ice will be very important. It’s something we’re going to keep grinding for.
Morgan Rielly on getting back into the lineup:
Being away from it, you’re excited to get back and you want to make a difference. But the team has been playing well lately. Try not to mess it up.
Matchup Stats
| TOR | BOS | |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 30-18-4 | 30-11-8 |
| GF/g | 3.15 (7th) | 3.20 (6th) |
| GA/g | 2.74 (12th) | 2.41 (1st) |
| PP% | 20.5% (13th) | 21.7% (7th) |
| PK% | 83.6% (4th) | 83.3% (5th) |
| Shots/g | 31.7 (15th) | 32.1 (13th) |
| Shots Against/g | 33.5 (28th) | 29.4 (2nd) |
| 5v5 CF% | 50.0% (17th) | 53.4% (2nd) |
| 5v5 SV% | .931 (7th) | .933 (4th) |
| 5v5 SH% | 9.0% (4th) | 8.3% (8th) |
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
(53-10-18-28) – (44-23-17-40) – (52-10-28-38) Total: 43
Marleau – Kadri – Marner
(53-17-9-26) – (51-17-13-30) – (53-8-27-35) Total: 42
Van Riemsdyk – Bozak – Brown
(52-20-11-31) – (51-8-19-27) – (53-12-7-19) Total: 40
Komarov – Moore – Kapanen
(52-4-10-14) – (35-4-5-9) – (10-3-0-3) Total: 11
Defencemen
Gardiner – Zaitsev
(53-3-27-30) – (36-4-6-10) Total: 7
Rielly – Hainsey
(48-5-26-31) – (32-3-15-18) Total: 8
Dermott – Carrick
(10-1-3-4) – (34-3-4-7) Total: 4
Goaltenders
Andersen (.922 sv%)
McElhinney (.932 sv%)
Scratched: Martin, Leivo, Holl, Borgman
Injured: Soshnikov, Polak
Boston Bruins Projected Lineup
Forwards
Heinen – Bergeron – Pastranak
(45-11-22-33) – (44-21-22-43) – (49-20-28-48) Total: 52
Debrusk – Krejci – Spooner
(45-11-15-26) – (31-9-16-25) – (28-8-13-21) Total: 28
Schaller – Nash – Backes
(49-6-6-12) – (48-7-15-22) – (32-9-11-20) Total: 22
Czarnik – Kuraly – Vatrano
(6-0-1-1) – (49-3-5-8) – (23-2-0-2) Total: 5
Defencemen
Chara – Carlo
(49-4-9-13) – (49-0-5-5) Total: 4
Krug – McQuaid
(45-7-22-29) – (13-0-1-1) Total: 7
Grzelcyk – McAvoy
(31-1-5-6) – (45-5-20-25) Total: 6
Goaltenders
Rask (.924 sv%)
Khudobin (.924 sv%)
Injured: McAvoy, Acciari, Bjork, Marchand (suspended)
