Easton Cowan, Nikita Grebenkin, and Matthew Knies will play their second consecutive preseason game as the Maple Leafs’ B team takes on the Senators’ A squad in the preseason rematch in Ottawa (7:00 p.m., TSN4 & TSN5).
Game Day Quotes
Craig Berube on what he’s looking for out of Nick Robertson’s game tonight:
Using his talents and his speed. He has been great in camp. His work ethic has been unbelievable. He is hounding pucks and on pucks. He is strong on it.
He just has to do that tonight in a game. He doesn’t have to complicate the game. Use his speed, play in straight lines, and be responsible defensively.
Berube on Easton Cowan’s first preseason game:
He did some really good things. I moved him around the lineup. I wanted to see him with different players. He got a little power-play time and maybe a little bit of penalty kill.
He did some good things. He is a very good player. There are a couple of situations where he maybe could’ve made a different decision with the puck than he did, but overall, I was pretty pleased with his effort and what he did in the game.
Easton Cowan on his first preseason performance and where he wants to improve:
Unfortunate that we lost. I felt that we got better as the game went on. I got more confident in my game. I felt like I just kept it simple.
I’d like to bring a bit more confidence and carry the puck a bit more. I had a bit more space than I thought out there. I’m just getting adjusted to the speed, and it will be easier to adjust tonight with the last game under my belt.
I am excited for tonight.
Matthew Knies on the team’s first preseason game (6-5 OT loss) and areas for improvement in the rematch tonight:
It wasn’t our best game. We are getting back into it. Our defensive structure wasn’t too sound. We allowed a lot of slip plays into the middle, which isn’t good enough by us.
We are trying to clean our defensive zone up and keep our offense hot. We scored a lot of goals and created some good opportunities — we want to keep that up — but we want to be better defensively.
Knies on the opportunity to line up with Alex Nylander:
It’s funny. The way [William and Alex] get dressed and everything they do is similar.
He skates well. He shoots the puck just like Willy does. It is going to be fun to play with him.
Senators head coach Travis Green on his expectations for the team in the preseason rematch:
Hopefully, it will be more of the same as what we saw last game. I liked how our team worked last game, with how we competed and started the game.
Toronto Maple Leafs Projected Lines
Forwards
#23 Matthew Knies – #64 David Kampf – #92 Alex Nylander
#74 Bobby McMann – #29 Pontus Holmberg – #89 Nick Robertson
#33 Roni Hirvonen – #61 Jacob Quillan – #46 Alex Steeves
#53 Easton Cowan – #15 Logan Shaw – #71 Nikita Grebenkin
Defensemen
#2 Simon Benoit – #25 Conor Timmins
#36 Dakota Mermis – #51 Philippe Myers
#83 Marshall Rifai – #54 Nicolas Mattinen
Goaltenders
#41 Anthony Stolarz
#35 Dennis Hildeby
Ottawa Senators Projected Lines
Forwards
Brady Tkachuk – Tim Stutzle – Claude Giroux
David Perron – Ridly Greig – Nick Cousins
Matthew Highmore – Zach Ostapchuk – Tyler Boucher
Cole Reinhardt – Garrett Pilon – Hayden Hodgson
Defensemen
Jake Sanderson – Travis Hamonic
Filip Rods – Nick Jensen
Jeremy Davies – Jacob Bernard-Docker
Goaltenders
Anton Forsberg
Mads Soogard
