Luke Schenn returns to Vancouver just a few days after he was traded to Toronto as the Maple Leafs look for their fifth win in their last six games tonight at Rogers Arena (7 p.m. EST, Sportsnet).
All the lineup information is coming in last minute tonight due to the 4 p.m. start on the west coast, but it appears the Leafs will run with 11 forwards and seven defensemen for the second consecutive game and Matt Murray will make his return to the net for his first start since January 17th.
Alex Kerfoot will start on the top line, with Michael Bunting — after a rough few games in Edmonton and Calgary — will move down to Ryan O’Reilly’s wing, but it will be a constant shuffle throughout with the 11/7 setup.
Head to Head: Canucks vs. Leafs
In the season-to-date statistics, the Leafs hold the advantage over the Canucks in four out of five offensive categories and five out of five defensive categories.
Game Day Quotes
Rick Tocchet on the meaning of this game in a lost season for the Canucks:
These are important games for us… These are the games that being quite honest, we treat like a playoff game. This is our kind of playoff game.
[The Leafs] are a team that’s built for a Stanley Cup run.
Tocchet on the Leafs adding Ryan O’Reilly before the deadline and what he appreciates about ROR’s game:
[Craig Berube] just raves about O’Reilly. That’s a huge pick-up for them in a seven-game series. He was outstanding against Colorado last year. An excellent move for them.
He plays the game the right way — Bergeron-type, Crosby-type — where he doesn’t cheat the game, is great on face-offs, and doesn’t take off from their own end when they don’t have the puck. It’s the little things.
Sheldon Keefe on his ability to use O’Reilly as his 3C as needed:
It gives us another high-end center with great defensive awareness and abilities and yet the ability to carry play and make a play, whether that is to score himself or to facilitate.
When you have that deeper in the lineup, it is great to have. You can use him against anybody. As we worked with when he arrived here, you have the ability to move him up, move John over, or try different combinations there.
It is a very significant addition for us.
Toronto Maple Leafs Projected Lines
Forwards
#15 Alex Kerfoot – #34 Auston Matthews – #16 Mitch Marner
#19 Calle Järnkrok – #91 John Tavares – #88 William Nylander
#58 Michael Bunting – #90 Ryan O’Reilly – #28 Sam Lafferty
#64 David Kämpf – #52 Noel Acciari
Defensemen
#22 Jake McCabe – #78 TJ Brodie
#44 Morgan Rielly – #2 Luke Schenn
#55 Mark Giordano – #3 Justin Holl
#56 Erik Gustafsson
Goaltenders
Starter: #30 Matt Murray
#34 Ilya Samsonov
Extras: Zach Aston-Reese, Timothy Liljegren, Conor Timmins
Injured: Nick Robertson, Jake Muzzin, Victor Mete
Vancouver Canucks Projected Lines
Forwards
#96 Andrei Kuzmenko – #40 Elias Pettersson – #72 Anthony Beauvillier
#8 Conor Garland – #9 JT Miller – #6 Brock Boeser
#92 Vasily Podkolzin – #15 Sheldon Dries – Vitali Kravtsov
#81 Dakota Joshua – #88 Nils Aman – #18 Jason Studnicka
Defensemen
#43 Quinn Hughes – Noah Juulsen
#8 Chris Tanev – #57 Tyler Myers
#86 Christian Wolanin – #44 Kyle Burroughs
Goaltenders
Starter: #35 Thatcher Demko
#60 Colin Delia
Injured/Out: Tucker Poolman, Tanner Pearson, Ethan Bear, Ilya Mikheyev, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Filip Hronek
