Coming off an unacceptable performance in Columbus, the Maple Leafs return home in search of a response effort against Craig Berube’s old team, the St. Louis Blues, who will be without their top scorer, Robert Thomas, due to injury (7:00 p.m. EST, TSN4).
As discussed in the build-up, the Blue Jackets game on Tuesday had all the markers of a classic Leafs loss: second half of a back-to-back with travel, coming off a big win over a good team, playing an opponent that is not exactly one of the league’s heavyweight contenders. Conventional Leafs fan wisdom marked it down as a trap game the team would inevitably find a way to lose, and the Leafs did little to disprove that notion with a 6-2 loss, its second regulation defeat to a bottom-five team from 2023-24.
After a few weeks of media narratives mostly centering around how different the Leafs look and feel under Craig Berube (for the better), Tuesday’s loss was a reminder that old habits often die hard, and the team still has a ways to go to instill the belief in the fan base that this year will be any different.
Now, the team turns its attention to rebounding against the Blues. In fairness, rebound efforts after duds like Tuesday’s loss have generally been a strength of the team in recent seasons, but the importance of a response tonight has just a little more emphasis on it, knowing this is Berube’s first meeting against his old squad.
The Leafs will welcome the return of goaltender Joseph Woll, who is set to make his season debut against his hometown team, his first time facing the Blues in his career. Anthony Stolarz has done more than enough in his five starts to crank up the heat on Woll in the competition for starts in the crease (.938 save percentage). The Leafs are facing a brutally tough schedule regarding back-to-backs this year (16), so a healthy — emphasis on healthy, in Woll’s case — competition in goal between two available goaltenders would be a major boost.
A minor lineup change is also coming up front, as Max Pacioretty is day-to-day after suffering a lower-body injury on Tuesday. As a result, David Kämpf will draw back into the lineup, but the team worked on special teams and did not take line rushes in the morning skate, so official line combinations will not be known until closer to puck drop.
Game Day Quotes
Ryan Reaves on the type of response he is expecting from the team tonight:
A pretty big one, obviously. You are not going to have your best game every night. That is hopefully our worst of the year (vs. Columbus). You have to make sure the next one is detailed and a little more hard in all three zones. You have to come out a lot harder than that.
Reaves on facing Berube’s former team:
Those are always a little more special. Player or coach, it doesn’t matter. A team that gets rid of you is a team you always want to win against, especially when it is the first game. We are going to try to get this one for him, for sure.
Reaves on the difference in the team under Berube:
The style of play he is bringing to the team is a little more hard-nosed. I think that is the main thing. I think we play a little harder here now, up and down the lineup. It’s something we need.
On the forecheck, he demands physicality, especially from F1. He demands it in all three zones. It is not just a couple of guys he demands it out of — it is up and down the lineup, front and back. I think that is something this team has needed. It is definitely welcome.
Craig Berube on the emotions of playing against his old team:
There are emotions, but once the puck drops, they’re over. We’re just playing. We need a good response tonight with our team, and that is what I am focused on.
Berube on the message to the team after an ugly loss to Columbus:
You can look at it a bunch of different ways. For me, we were just loose in the game. They were ready. We knew they were going to be ready. They have some really good players on that team — young guys who are hungry and are going to skate. We let them skate through us all night. You can’t do that. You have to check, and we didn’t check. That is the bottom line. That is where it ends for me.
We didn’t check. If we checked early in the game, I think we would’ve been in good shape, but we didn’t check early in the game and got down 3-0. You’re playing catch up, and we couldn’t get a goal by the goalie. We had opportunities, and we didn’t score.
You put yourself in a hole. We have to do a better job of that.
Blues head coach Drew Bannister on the loss of Robert Thomas to a fractured ankle:
Unfortunate news for the team and for Robby. He played a great game up to the point of his injury.
It is a great opportunity for our team to build as a team. [As we wait] to get him back, whether it is in four or six weeks, it is important for us to get guys to step up in certain roles.
There are a lot of guys in there who are capable of doing different things. It is going to be a team effort, and not just one player. A group of us will need to pull together.
You can’t make up for the player, but as a group, we can make up for it. It is going to be about the 20 guys in the lineup pulling together for the team.
Toronto Maple Leafs Projected Lines
Forwards
#23 Matthew Knies — #34 Auston Matthews — #16 Mitch Marner
#74 Bobby McMann — #11 Max Domi — #88 William Nylander
#18 Steven Lorentz — #91 John Tavares — #89 Nick Robertson
#29 Pontus Holmberg — #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
#60 Joseph Woll
#41 Anthony Stolarz
Extras: Philippe Myers, Timothy Liljegren
Injured: Max Pacioretty
Injured (LTIR): Calle Jarnkrok, Jani Hakanpaa, Connor Dewar, Dakota Mermis
St. Louis Blues Projected Lines
Forwards
#20 Brandon Saad — #10 Brayden Schenn — #63 Jake Neighbours
#9 Alexandre Texier — #89 Pavel Buchnevich — #25 Jordan Kyrou
#71 Mathieu Joseph — #81 Dylan Holloway — #42 Kasperi Kapanen
#13 Alexey Toropchenko — #12 Radek Faksa — #70 Oskar Sundqvist
Defensemen
#22 Ryan Suter — #55 Colton Parayko
#6 Philip Broberg — #72 Justin Faulk
#77 Pierre-Oliver Joseph — #48 Scott Perunovich
Goaltenders
#50 Jordan Binnington
#30 Joel Hofer
