Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Columbus Blue Jackets – Game #59 Preview, Projected Lines & TV Info

Puck Drop: 7:00 p.m. EST  |  Arena: Air Canada Centre |  TV: Sportsnet |  Radio: SN 590

Game Day Quotes

Mike Babcock on keeping the club competitive and avoiding complacency through their winning streak:

Well, we haven’t beaten Columbus this year. They’ve got 50 shots their last two games . Smacked us around a couple of times [this year]. Sun comes up everyday, so I know all that stuff. It’s a great day to be alive. We’re all in the National Hockey League today. There’s no better place to be.

The team we’re playing today — I just checked the standings — they’re right there, and so they’re going to be all in. You can count on it. We have to be all in, as well. We’re trying to get better and we’re pursuing teams ahead of us. We’re trying to take a step, and the step is to play each and every day. Complacency sets in for all people. It’s the success disease. We all know that. If you’ve got enough grinders, it doesn’t set in as fast.

Babcock on defending against a team that likes to throw it on net at every opportunity:

Passes are easier to defend than those throw-ins because those throw-ins are random. They hit something and they bounce somewhere. You can’t control it. It’s hits the guy in front, goes somewhere, and the goalie doesn’t feel it. Sometimes skilled players don’t want to play like that; they want to make a prettier play. In saying that, obviously, in playing defence against it, you’ve just got to have good sticks and feet and you can’t give them those free throw-ins for nothing. You know they’re going to throw it in, so be prepared for that.

Babcock on Kasperi Kapanen:

A good penalty killer, elite speed. He’s gotten to be a man now. He’s strong on the puck, and because of his balance and his speed, he puts the D in trouble. In this league, I think that’s where it’s gone to. The more heat you can put on the other team and their D… It doesn’t matter how good you are, when your face is towards the glass, you don’t make lots of plays. There isn’t one D who does. When you get a chance to look up ice because they don’t have any heat on you, you make all these plays and suddenly their forwards are really fast. You want to slow those forwards down, just make sure their face is in the glass.

Nazem Kadri on what makes Komarov a good defensive player:

Well, I think he’s smart and knowledgeable. He’s got good hockey IQ, knows the positioning to be in. He’s got an exceptional stick. All that combined allows him to be the defensive specialist that he is.

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
  (58-11-19-30) – (48-26-21-47) – (58-14-31-45) Total: 51
Marleau – Kadri – Marner
(58-18-11-29) – (56-18-17-35) – (58-12-31-43)  Total: 48
Van Riemsdyk – Bozak – Brown
  (56-23-12-35) – (57-8-20-28) – (58-12-9-21) Total: 43
Komarov – Moore – Kapanen
 (58-5-10-15) – (40-4-6-10) – (15-4-1-5)  Total: 13

Defencemen

Rielly – Hainsey
 (52-5-28-33) – (55-3-16-19) Total: 8
Gardiner – Zaitsev
 (58-4-31-35) – (41-4-6-10) Total: 8
Dermott – Polak
(15-1-4-5) – (35-2-4-6) Total: 3

Goaltenders

Andersen (.921 sv%)
McElhinney (.932 sv%)

Scratched: Martin, Leivo, Carrick

Columbus Blue Jackets Projected Lineup

Forwards

Panarin – Dubois – Atkinson
  (56-15-31-46) – (56-13-14-27) – (40-9-10-19) Total: 37
Foligno – Wennberg – Bjorkstrand
(56-11-12-23) – (42-5-15-20) – (56-10-21-31) Total: 26
Jenner – Dubinsky – Anderson
  (49-5-11-16) – (38-5-10-15) – (54-17-11-28) Total: 27
Jokinen – Sedlak – Hannikainen
 (10-0-1-1) – (42-4-3-7) – (28-2-2-4) Total: 6

Defencemen

Werenski – Jones
 (52-11-14-25) – (56-8-28-36) Total: 19
Johnson – Nutivaara
 (56-2-5-7) – (49-3-14-17) Total: 5
Kukan – Savard
 (7-0-2-2) – (55-4-6-10) Total: 4

Goaltenders

Bobrovsky (.920 sv%)
Korpisalo (.910 sv%)

Injured: Milano, Murray