After a collapse against Montreal on Saturday, the Toronto Maple Leafs finish off their busy run of four games in six days to start the 2019-20 season tonight against the Stanley Cup champion St. Louis Blues (7 p.m, TSN4).
Mike Babcock summed up the challenge in front of the Leafs well this morning:
There is a number of things about their team. Obviously, they’re Stanley Cup champs. We are excited to play them. They beat us twice last year. Both times, they handled us. We weren’t handled by lots of teams last year, but they handled us.
They’ve got a maturity level in their group. They’ve got good veteran leadership. They take care of the puck. They play right. They’re above you. They don’t turn it over you. They’re inside. They compete heavy on the forecheck. I just think all around, they play a good game.
A lot of attention is going to fixate on how the Leafs deal with the heaviness and physical challenge the St. Louis Blues present tonight and what it portends as to their viability as a playoff contender. The Blues’ size, enviable depth and ability to stop cycles on the backend, their overall play without the puck and quality of their 200-foot centermen, and how they get on top of teams on the forecheck will all be good tests for the Leafs early in the year. That said, it’s early October hockey — the time and space is more easy to come by — so it all needs to be kept in perspective, whatever happens tonight.
Game Day Quotes
Babcock on the challenge of the St. Louis’ Blues physicality on the forecheck:
There is a number of things about their team. Obviously, they’re Stanley Cup champs. We are excited to play them. They beat us twice last year. Both times, they handled us. We weren’t handled by lots of teams last year, but they handled us.
They’ve got a maturity level in their group. They’ve got good veteran leadership. They take care of the puck. They play right. They’re above you. They don’t turn it over you. They’re inside. They compete heavy on the forecheck. I just think all around, they play a good game, so a real good opportunity for us and a real good chance for us.
We need a bounce-back game. We didn’t like our game the other night. We’ve got to bounce back and they’re going to challenge us. It should be fun.
Babcock on Kasperi Kapanen’s start to the year:
Two years ago, he came and played in the playoffs for us. Anything he did, we liked. Now, we are evaluating him and he is evaluating himself. That is the problem with being a good player — once you set the bar, you’ve got to keep raising it. He is playing with different players, but just because you play with different players, doesn’t mean you’ve got to change things. He’s got to be at the net. He’s got to get pucks back for them on the forecheck, on retrieval races. That is what he’s got to do. And be a good penalty killer.
Babcock on whether they like Kapanen on the left side of the Tavares line:
We’re playing him. I think we’re playing him 18 minutes a night, so we like him. The big thing about this game is that when you play good, you get to play more. I think it is just a process for the guy. I felt last year he and Johnny were on our second line at playoff time. It is early to be on the second line at playoff time in your development, but we want them and need them to be good players.
Babcock on whether he was surprised the Blues won at the end after the brutal start to the regular season in 2018-19:
If you would’ve told me at the start, before the season started, that they had won the game, I wouldn’t have been the least bit surprised. But then the wheels came off and it didn’t go good, so I think we are… There have been tons of stories written about that, but what we didn’t look back at is that they were that good. Let’s not kid ourselves. It wasn’t pixie dust. It wasn’t a miracle. They were that good. They were that deep. They were that good. They’ve had lots of playoff disappointments over a number of years.
The other thing they did is improve the team down the middle. They’ve got elite center ice. Good, good D. And the goalie played good — really good.
Babcock on how the team has started the season:
I think in the last two games of exhibition and the first two games, there was a relentlessness and playing right. I don’t’ think that was evident the other night, though. I thought the other team was more relentless than us.
Toronto Maple Leafs Projected Lines
Forwards
#18 Andreas Johnsson – #34 Auston Matthews – #88 William Nylander
#24 Kasperi Kapanen – #91 John Tavares – #16 Mitch Marner
#65 Ilya Mikheyev – #15 Alex Kerfoot – #42 Trevor Moore
#61 Nic Petan – #33 Frederik Gauthier – #19 Jason Spezza
Defensemen
#8 Jake Muzzin – #94 Tyson Barrie
#44 Morgan Rielly – #83 Cody Ceci
#38 Rasmus Sandin – #3 Justin Holl
Goaltenders
#31 Frederik Andersen
#30 Michael Hutchinson
Scratched: Martin Marincin, Nick Shore, Dmytro Timashov
Injured: Zach Hyman, Travis Dermott
PP Units
Johnsson
Marner – Tavares – Matthews
Rielly
Kapanen
Nylander – Kerfoot – Spezza
Barrie
St.Louis Blues Projected Lines
Forwards
#17 Jayden Schwartz – #10 Brayden Schenn – #91 Vladamir Tarasenko
#9 Sammy Blais – #90 Ryan O’Reilly – #57 David Perron
#15 Robby Fabbri – #21 Tyler Bozak – #12 Zach Sanford
#49 Ivan Barbashev – #70 Oskar Sundqvist – #20 Alex Steen
Defensemen
#4 Carl Gunnarsson – #27 Alex Pietrangelo
#19 Jay Bouwmeester – #55 Colton Parayko
#29 Vince Dunn – #72 Justin Faulk
Goaltenders
#50 Jordan Binnington
#34 Jake Allen
Injured: Robert Thomas
