Puck Drop: 7:00 p.m. | Arena: Air Canada Centre | TV: CBC | Radio: TSN 1050
Game Day Quotes
Mike Babcock on the challenge presented by the Winnipeg Jets:
We don’t see them very much. They’re obviously an elite team. They’re fun to watch, they can play fast, they’ve got good depth — real good depth up front — and will have on the back when they get their people healthy. They’ve had a fantastic year to date and they’re probably excited to get going at playoff time, as are we.
Babcock on the lack of importance in his team’s remaining regular season games:
Boston and Tampa are playing to finish first, so they’ve got important games. So, if we choose not to play important games, they’ll be ready and we won’t. That wouldn’t make sense to me.
Babcock on if he intends to get the Matthews powerplay unit more time in the last week of the season:
If they earn them. I think they’ve been way better here of late so that’s real positive for them.
Babcock on getting his defensemen to produce shots:
Well, it’s something you work at all the time. It’s important your D is getting pucks through and generating offence for you. It’s hard if you just play 3-against-5. The more skill you have on the back end to do that, the better. We are real fortunate. You don’t consider Hainsey like that; that’s what he was early in his career. Playing his offside, it’s harder for him, but five of the six guys we dress each night are really effective at that.
Nazem Kadri on the team’s ability to generate offense with redirects and tips and getting shots through:
We’ve done a great job at that actually — finding lanes. I think, for the most part, everyone’s got their head up when they touch the puck and they’re trying to find certain areas of the ice to put the puck in where we have a better chance of getting it. The more you shoot the puck, the more you retrieve the puck.
Rom Hainsey on how the team will need to play in its own zone against Patrik Laine:
Once he gets set up in that position where he scoring most of his goals from — off one timers and quick release shots — the damage is already done. So, the idea is to keep him out of the zone as much as possible, but when they do get in there, you know you’re better off having somebody really close to him — whether it be 5-on-5 or on the powerplay — because once he does get it off, similar to Ovechkin, you’re at the mercy of where it goes. Both those guys have the ability to score from that spot it seems better than anyone in recent memory.
Matchup Stats
| TOR | WPG | |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 47-24-7 (101) | 47-20-10 (104) |
| GF/g | 3.32 (2nd) | 3.29 (3rd) |
| GA/g | 2.83 (12th) | 2.65 (6th) |
| PP% | 23.8% (3rd) | 23.3% (4th) |
| PK% | 82.0% (10th) | 82.1% (9th) |
| Shots/g | 32.2 (14th) | 32.2 (15th) |
| Shots Against/g | 33.9 (28th) | 31.7 (13th) |
| 5v5 CF% | 49.7% (16th) | 51.7% (7th) |
| 5v5 SV% | .927 (9th) | .924 (14th) |
| 5v5 SH% | 9.2% (2nd) | 8.5% (6th) |
Toronto Maple Leafs Projected Lineup
Forwards
Hyman – Matthews – Nylander
(78-14-24-38) – (58-31-25-56) – (78-17-39-56) Total: 62
Marleau – Kadri – Marner
(78-24-19-44) – (76-31-23-54) – (78-22-47-69) Total: 77
Van Riemsdyk – Bozak – Brown
(78-36-18-54) – (77-11-31-42) – (78-14-14-28) Total: 61
Komarov – Moore – Kapanen
(71-7-12-19) – (50-6-6-12) – (35-7-2-9) Total: 20
Defencemen
Rielly – Hainsey
(72-6-44-50) – (76-4-19-23) Total: 10
Gardiner – Zaitsev
(78-5-43-48) – (56-5-8-13) Total: 10
Dermott – Polak
(35-1-12-13) – (50-2-9-11) Total: 3
Goaltenders
McElhinney (.935 sv%)
Andersen (.917 sv%)
Scratched: Plekanec, Martin, Leivo, Carrick
Winnipeg Jets Projected Lineup
Forwards
Connor – Scheifele – Wheeler
(71-29-22-51) – (56-23-35-58) – (77-20-66-86) Total: 72
Ehlers – Stasny – Laine
(77-28-28-56) – (77-15-35-50) – (77-43-25-68) Total: 86
Perreault – Copp – Little
(65-16-22-38) – (77-5-17-22) – (77-16-27-43) Total: 37
Tanev – Lowry – Armia
(57-7-8-15) – (41-8-9-17) – (74-12-16-28) Total: 27
Defencemen
Morissey – Myers
(77-5-19-24) – (77-6-28-34) Total: 11
Chiarot – Byfuglien
(52-2-11-13) – (65-6-35-41) Total: 8
Poolman – Morrow
(21-1-0-1) – (13-1-4-5) Total: 2
Goaltenders
Hellebuyck (.923 sv%)
Comrie (.872 sv%)
Injured: Mason, Hutchinson, Kulikov, Trouba
