John Tavares’ status is in doubt as the Maple Leafs open their home schedule against the Pittsburgh Penguins (7:00 p.m. EST, Sportsnet).
If Tavares cannot play tonight due to illness, Pontus Holmberg will step into the 2C role next to William Nylander, and Bobby McMann will move into the 2LW spot, while Max Domi shifts into the 3C position. With the two-headed monster down the middle on the Penguins currently healthy (Crosby-Malkin), it would test that McMann-Holmberg-Nylander line’s ability to match up, with a Pacioretty – Domi – Robertson line likely serving as more of a sheltered scoring unit.
If there was ever a regular-season opportunity to continue to mix in Nylander at C early in the year, this would’ve been it, so if Tavares is out and Nylander stays on the RW as projected, it’s safe to declare that experiment was yet again extremely short-lived.
Whether Tavares plays or not, the Leafs are looking to continue their overall structure and control of the five-on-five play of their first two games on the road, as well as their positive shifts and contributions from the bottom six, while hoping their power play and big guns offensively come to life.
The Leafs‘ home record last season is a notable storyline entering the new season; 22-15-4 at the SBA was an underwhelming return in 2023-24 and cost them a chance at the division and/or home-ice advantage. They often strayed from the structure and attention to detail shown on the road (24-11-6) and kissed away a lot of points to inferior opposition. Tonight is an opportunity to start off on the right foot in the newly-renovated SBA.
Game Day Quotes
Craig Berube on the anticipation for the home opener:
Excited. We want to take what we did in the first two games, with how we played the game and our process in the game, and bring it to the home ice, too. There is no reason to change that.
Berube on the possibility of a run-and-gun game of traded chances against the Penguins:
We don’t want that. Our team has done a good job of that so far. Montreal and Jersey are quick transition teams — fast teams who wish to play on the move.
We want to play our game. We don’t want to get into that back-and-forth type of game. We want to have a territorial game.
It is going to be important against Pittsburgh to have that territorial, hang onto pucks, be strong on pucks, and take away their transition game. They are very good down low in the offensive at creating offense. We have to get back, get into good coverage, and make sure we are heavy around our net tonight.
Berube on Pontus Holmberg moving up to 2C if John Tavares can’t play, and what has been impressive about Holmberg’s game:
Just 200 feet. I see a lot of good in all three zones with him. He is very responsible. Plus, he gets in on the forecheck and is strong on pucks creating opportunities that way for himself and his linemates. He has done a good job on the PK, too.
Berube on his big guns going without a point through two games:
Opportunities are there. They hit some posts. They’ve missed the net a little bit. It is not clean as much at times, but overall, I am happy with the effort. They are working and doing the right things. The scoring will come.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson on the team’s buy-in to Berube’s program:
The guys worked really hard in the two games. That is something we want to build off of, come out tonight, and play the same way. We want to clean up some areas we want to be better at, and keep doing what we were doing well.
I think Craig is keeping us really honest. Everyone knows what to do. When you have that feeling in the group, I think everyone knows what to expect from everyone else.
Mike Sullivan on whether he has talked with Auston Matthews about Team USA for the Four Nations Cup:
We have had conversations already about that. I try to be respectful of their time and space. Certainly, we have had conversations already, and we will continue to have conversations at opportune times.
Sullivan on how Michael Bunting has settled into the Penguins lineup:
Bunts has been a real good player for us since we got him. He seems to have fit into our lineup really well. He has played a lot with Geno. We think he has played extremely well there. He drags people into the fight, so to speak, and I think that is an aspect of his game that has really helped our team.
Head-to-Head Stats: Maple Leafs vs. Penguins
In the 2023-24 regular season statistics, the Leafs held the advantage over the Penguins in three out of five offensive categories and three out of five defensive categories.
Toronto Maple Leafs Projected Lines
Forwards
#23 Matthew Knies — #34 Auston Matthews — #16 Mitch Marner
#74 Bobby McMann — #29 Pontus Holmberg — #88 William Nylander
#67 Max Pacioretty — #11 Max Domi — #89 Nick Robertson
#18 Steven Lorentz — #64 David Kampf — #75 Ryan Reaves
Defensemen
#44 Morgan Rielly — #8 Chris Tanev
#95 Oliver Ekman-Larsson — #22 Jake McCabe
#2 Simon Benoit — #25 Conor Timmins
Goaltenders
#41 Anthony Stolarz
#35 Dennis Hildeby
Extras: Philippe Myers, Timothy Liljegren
Illness/game-time decision: John Tavares
Injured (IR): Joseph Woll
Injured (LTIR): Calle Jarnkrok, Jani Hakanpaa, Connor Dewar, Dakota Mermis
Pittsburgh Penguins Projected Lines
Forwards
#72 Anthony Beauvillier — #87 Sidney Crosby — #17 Bryan Rust*
#8 Michael Bunting — #71 Evgeni Malkin — #67 Rickard Rakell
#10 Drew O’Connor — #20 Lars Eller — #18 Jesse Puljujarvi
#13 Kevin Hayes — #19 Cody Glass — #55 Noel Acciari
Defensemen
#27 Matt Grzelcyk — #58 Kris Letang
#28 Marcus Pettersson — #65 Erik Karlsson
#3 Jack St. Ivany — #27 Ryan Graves
Goaltenders
#30 Joel Blomqvist
#35 Tristan Jarry
*game-time decision
Injured/Out: Matthew Nieto, Alex Nedeljkovic, Blake Lizotte
