With Mitch Marner returning after a 12-game absence, the Maple Leafs will debut their new middle-six lines — McMann-Tavares-Marner / Knies-Holmberg-Nylander — as part of their balanced look up front as they visit Bell Centre for the final time this season (7:00 p.m. EST, Sportsnet/CBC).
Game Day Quotes
Martin St. Louis on the challenge of matching up against a Leafs team with Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, and William Nylander on separate lines:
It is similar when you play Edmonton. It is a little bit easier — well, maybe not easier — if they have McDavid and Draisaitl together. You have the responsibility for one line, so to speak, but when they start spreading it, you have to deal with that collectively more.
We have seen other teams do that. It is a nice thing to have for them to be able to spread it. It makes it harder to match and focus on one line. It becomes more of a collective challenge.
St. Louis on whether he thought a possible 70-goal scorer would be possible in the modern NHL:
Yeah. The game is more offensive. The power plays are better. The players are more talented. I am not surprised.
Max Domi on the team spreading out its elite scoring talent across three lines:
That is what it takes to win. We are a couple of weeks away [from the playoffs]. We will use the last seven games to get ready to go, clean up some things, and work on some details.
When it comes to playoff hockey, you need everyone — not just three lines but four lines, six defensemen, two goalies, and some extras who are going to jump in. We are just gearing towards that and looking forward to the challenge.
John Tavares on reuniting with Mitch Marner on his RW:
It will be great. He plays in all situations. Play goes through him a ton. He has the puck a ton. He makes a ton of plays. Tremendous awareness and hockey sense.
I’ve enjoyed playing with him since I’ve been here. It will be great playing with him again today.
Tavares on whether Matthews should receive Hart and Selke nominations:
He should be right in the mix and nominated for both with the type of season he is having and what he could potentially do from a goal-scoring standpoint. To be able to do that and be as well-rouned as he is even more impressive.
He is not just a trigger guy or is always put in offensive situations. He plays in all areas of the game. He carries play. He wins so many puck battles. His takeaways are exceptional.
I don’t think he gets enough credit for how smart he is and the positions he puts himself in, especially with how hard teams defend him and how he consistently finds open space with the timing of all of those sorts of things.
He is as well-rounded of a player as you are going to find in our game today. It would be great to see him get the recognition on both of those fronts.
Sheldon Keefe on his vision for the team’s balanced attack:
We can talk about first line, second line, and third line, but the way I would like it to be is that each game could be different. William’s line could be the first line tonight. When you have the talent spread out like this, it is more about who is going on that particular night. On great nights, all of them would be going, but that is the idea: you have it spread out, and you get opportunities for different lines to go.
Our fourth line with Kampf, Reavo, and Dewar might have been our best line the other night. That is really what you are looking for—to get all of your groups thriving. Whether it is William on that line, Mitch with John, or Auston with Max and Bert, I expect those guys to drive it and be leaders in each of those groups.
St. Louis on the development of Alex Newhook in his first season as a Hab:
Like every young player, you try to explain to them to play the game, not just his game. He has a lot of speed. Most of his life growing up with that speed, he probably had the puck a lot. You try to make him understand that at this level, the game is played without the puck.
I feel he has taken huge strides on both sides of the puck to really be engaged — not just start getting engaged when the puck touches his stick. He finds some great pockets. He has good speed. I think he is learning to decelerate, too, to keep those pockets… It is learning to use [the speed] to get into position and not to let it take you out of position. We are on blades. We glide. There is a lot of momentum. To control the speed is really important on both sides of the puck so that he keeps us in balance on the ice.
I have been really happy with his progression on both sides of the puck.
Head-to-Head Stats: Maple Leafs vs. Canadiens
In the season-to-date statistics, the Leafs hold the advantage over the Canadiens in five out of five offensive categories and four out of five defensive categories.
Season Series (2-0-0): Maple Leafs 6-5 Win (SO) | Maple Leafs 3-2 Win
Toronto Maple Leafs Projected Lines
Forwards
#59 Tyler Bertuzzi – #34 Auston Matthews – #11 Max Domi
#74 Bobby McMann – #91 John Tavares – #16 Mitch Marner
#23 Matthew Knies – #29 Pontus Holmberg – #88 William Nylander
#24 Connor Dewar – #64 David Kampf – #75 Ryan Reaves
Defensemen
#44 Morgan Rielly – #46 Ilya Lyubushkin
#2 Simon Benoit – #22 Jake McCabe
#55 Mark Giordano – #78 TJ Brodie
Goaltenders
Starter: #35 Ilya Samsonov
#60 Joseph Woll
Scratched: Nick Robertson, Noah Gregor, Conor Timmins, Martin Jones
Injured: Calle Jarnkrok, Timothy Liljegren, Joel Edmundson
Montreal Canadiens Projected Lines
Forwards
#22 Cole Caufield – #14 Nick Suzuki – #20 Juraj Slafkovksy
#11 Brendan Gallagher – #15 Alex Newhook – #40 Joel Armia
#70 Tanner Pearson – #71 Jake Evans – #17 Josh Anderson
#55 Michael Pezzetta – #36 Colin White – #49 Rafael Harvey-Pinard
Defensemen
#8 Michael Matheson – #54 Jordan Harris
#52 Justin Barron – #58 David Savard
#47 Jayden Struble – #26 Johnathan Kovacevic
Goaltenders
Starter: #35 Samuel Montembault
#30 Cayden Primeau
Injured: Christian Dvorak, Joshua Roy, Kirby Dach, Arber Xhekaj, Kaiden Guhle
