Less than 24 hours after a 4-2 loss in St. Louis, the Maple Leafs are looking to bounce back from a tough final 40 minutes against the Blues when they visit a rested and rolling Minnesota Wild team (6:00 p.m. EST, Sportsnet Ontario).
Game Day Quotes
Wild head coach John Hynes on the challenge presented by the Leafs:
They are getting their game (together), but they are a dangerous team. With Craig (Berube) there, there is a little more forechecking and pucks in (deep) than in the past, but they create off of that. They are hard-working. They have talent. You have to be ready.
You see them play that game against Winnipeg, and then you say, “That is the team we have to be prepared for.” They are a dangerous team and a good team. They are one of the top teams in the league for a reason. You have to be on top of your game.
Craig Berube on the challenge presented by the 7-1-2 Wild:
They are not giving up a whole lot up, to be honest with you. Good defense. That top line is dangerous. Kirill is a heck of a player. Zuccarello is a great passer. They have some mobile D; their D skate well. It will be a challenge.
Berube on the areas for improvement after last night’s 4-2 loss in St. Louis:
A better second period. We had a good first period and did everything that we wanted to do in the game. I thought we were in real good control even at the start of the second, but we extended our shifts in the second and got caught out there. They got the momentum with a couple of goals.
Our game was good in the first period. It was nothing fancy — putting pucks to good areas and creating shot volume. We could’ve had three goals in the first period, but it didn’t happen, and that is the way the game goes. There is no reason to get off page in the second period.
That is something we have to keep banging away it. We have done it a few times this year. We have to keep looking at it.
Berube on managing minutes in a back-to-back situation:
I try to [manage the minutes] in the first game. The minutes were pretty good, but when you get to the end, you are trying to win it. You get your top guys out there more than you probably want to.
We will see how the game goes, but we need everybody to contribute and play some minutes tonight.
Matthew Knies on the challenge presented by the Wild:
They have been rolling. Their top lines have been scoring a lot. Dangerous power play.
We are going to try to limit their chances and stay out of the box. We have taken a lot of penalties, and it has taken us out of games and run us down. The better we can do with that, we can keep those guys off the scoresheet and give ourselves a chance to win.
Knies on returning to the state where he played college hockey for an NHL game vs. the Wild:
It is awesome. It is a lot of fun. A lot of good memories here. I am excited to be back and to get my first chance to play at the Xcel Energy Center.
Toronto Maple Leafs Projected Lines
Forwards
#23 Matthew Knies — #34 Auston Matthews — #16 Mitch Marner
#67 Max Pacioretty — #91 John Tavares — #88 William Nylander
#74 Bobby McMann — #11 Max Domi — #89 Nick Robertson
#18 Steven Lorentz — #64 David Kampf — #75 Ryan Reaves
Defensemen
#44 Morgan Rielly — #95 Oliver Ekman-Larsson
#22 Jake McCabe — #8 Chris Tanev
#2 Simon Benoit — #25 Conor Timmins
Goaltenders
Starter: #41 Anthony Stolarz
#60 Joseph Woll
Extras: Philippe Myers, Pontus Holmberg, Matt Benning
Injured (LTIR): Calle Jarnkrok, Jani Hakanpaa, Connor Dewar, Dakota Mermis
Minnesota Wild Projected Lines
Forwards
#97 Kirill Kaprizov — #23 Marco Rossi — #36 Mats Zuccarello
#90 Marcus Johansson — #14 Joel Eriksson Ek — #12 Matt Boldy
#17 Marcus Foligno — #89 Frederick Gaudreau — #38 Ryan Hartman
#94 Jakub Lauko — #22 Marat Khusnutdinov — #13 Yakov Trenin
Defensemen
#25 Jonas Brodin — #46 Jared Spurgeon
#5 Jacob Middleton — #7 Brock Faber
#47 Declan Chisholm — #24 Zach Bogosian
Goaltenders
Starter: #32 Filip Gustavsson
#29 Marc-Andre Fleury
