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After one of their worst performances of the season last night in Montreal, the Maple Leafs are going to have to dig deep to come up with a response in the second half of a back-to-back against a rested Blue Jackets team tonight in Columbus (7 p.m. EST, Sportsnet Ontario).

7-2-0 in their last nine, the Jackets are shooting the lights out recently while giving up almost as much in their own end; since January 27, they’re riding a league-leading 14.5% shooting percentage to the tune of 47 goals in their last nine games, including seven-goal outputs in back-to-back wins over bottom-feeders Chicago and Buffalo in their last two outings.

Columbus’ 4.67 goals per game rank them second in the NHL behind only the Florida Panthers since January 27. They’ve also allowed 3.89 goals per game over that same time period, which ranks 28th in the league.

Patrik Laine is one of the hottest producers in the league this month with six goals and 12 points in his last six games, while Boone Jenner, Jakub Voracek, Gustav Nyquist, and Zach Werenski are all at a point-per-game in February.

It’s a chancey game the Blue Jackets are playing of late at even strength, where they sit top 10 in expected goals for per 60 and bottom 10 in expected goals against in the month of February. They’re also without both Elvis Merzlikins and Joonas Korpisalo due to injury, so journeyman goaltender JF Berube will start his second in a row after playing his first NHL game since April 2018 in Sunday’s win over Buffalo (33 saves on 36 shots).

Playing with structure while trusting the opportunities will come without trying to win the game in one shift is always critical when a team is slumping as the Leafs are at the moment. Scoring first would go a long way in helping them settle into the contest after chasing the game in their last two losses and giving up a lot of scoring chances in transition.

It would be surprising if Sheldon Keefe only inserted Rasmus Sandin and newcomer Ilya Lyubushkin on the blue line and didn’t change up something with his forward lines, especially after directly criticizing the Tavares-Nylander line after the game, although he did couch it in the statement that the line had been creating more scoring chances lately prior to yesterday’s game.

Jack Campbell will return between the pipes at a time when the Leafs could really use a steadying force in their net.

Take the below lines with a grain of salt. With no morning skate due to the back-to-back and Keefe not speaking to the media until later on, it is subject to change. Check back closer to puck drop for the final combinations.


Game Day Quotes

John Tavares on the team’s vulnerability defending the rush lately:

Teams are really defending us hard inside and looking to counter on us. We have to really find our game and find our balance of controlling play, trying to generate and attack the net, and obviously, not give up what we’re giving up off the rush.

Blue Jackets head coach Brad Larsen on his team’s challenging schedule coming up:

You see four top-10 teams coming. They’re balanced. They’re dangerous. They are built to win and win now. The margin for error goes down. Your competitiveness has to go up. Your pick management has to be sharp. All those factors — how we arrive, how we exit — just have to be cleaner.

The margin for error is smaller, and they sting you. Even in the Calgary game, we were in it at 2-1. You make a couple of mistakes and it’s in your net. It is a good test for us, and we’ll try to rise to the challenge.

Zach Werenski on his team’s approach to measuring-stick games against top opponents:

They’re in the position they’re in for a reason. A lot of them have been together for a while here; a little bit older, they know how to play. The lessons we’re learning this year, they’ve learned in the past. It’s one of those things they know what it takes to be successful, and they’re playing playoff-type hockey right now to get ready for it.

It goes back to just being another step for our group. We know we can play with Toronto; it’s just doing it for a full 60. If we do that, I think the results will be on our side.


Toronto Maple Leafs Projected Lines*

* final combinations won’t be known until closer to puck drop with no morning skate

Forwards
#58 Michael Bunting – #34 Auston Matthews – #16 Mitch Marner
#5 Alex Kerfoot – #91 John Tavares – #88 William Nylander
#65 Ilya Mikheyev  #64 David Kampf – #25 Ondrej Kase
#47 Pierre Engvall – #19 Jason Spezza – #24 Wayne Simmonds

Defensemen
#44 Morgan Rielly –  #78 TJ Brodie
#38 Rasmus Sandin  – #26 Ilya Lyubushkin
#23 Travis Dermott – #37 Timothy Liljegren

Goaltenders
Starter: #36 Jack Campbell
#35 Petr Mrazek

Extra: Justin Holl
Injured
: Jake Muzzin


Columbus Blue Jackets Projected Lines

Forwards
#29 Patrik Laine – #38 Boone Jenner – #93 Jakub Voracek
#14 Gustav Nyquist– #34 Cole Sillinger – #28 Oliver Bjorkstrand
#16 Max Domi – #7 Sean Kuraly – #59 Yegor Chinakhov
#23 Brendan Gaunce – #96 Jack Roslovic – #17 Justin Danforth

Defensemen
#8 Zach Werenski – #2 Andrew Peeke
#44 Vladislav Gavrikov – #27 Adam Boqvist
#5 Gavin Bayreuther –  #46 Dean Kukan

Goaltenders
Starter: #30 Jean-Francois Berube
Jet Greaves

Injured/Out: Eric Robinson, Alexandre Texier, Emil Bemstrom, Joonas Korpisalo, Jake Bean, Elvis Merzlikins