The Maple Leafs are looking to snap their eight-game regular-season losing slump to the Boston Bruins, but they’ll need to do it without Auston Matthews tonight at Scotiabank Arena (7:00 p.m. EST, TSN4). Matthews is day-to-day with an upper-body injury.
It’s difficult to put a positive spin on losing your captain and 69-goal scorer ahead of a game against a sworn enemy that has your team’s number, but the Leafs are 35-19-2 all-time without Matthews in the lineup in the regular season.
Last season, in the brief sample of Max Domi moving up the lineup next to former London Knights teammate Mitch Marner, the pair seemed to invigorate each other’s games. The Knies – Domi – Marner line combined for three goals against the Penguins in a mid-December blowout win. Domi-Marner out-scored the opposition 8-4 at five-on-five last season in just 56 minutes of shared ice time, albeit with less impressive underlying numbers (41.3% xG).
The 6-6-1 Bruins, after a crisis-inducing 8-2 loss to Carolina, have settled down somewhat with back-to-back shutout wins over the Flyers and Kraken. They’re running a loaded top line with Brad Marchand, Elias Lindholm, and David Pastrnak at the moment, which presents a big matchup challenge for a Leafs team without its head-to-head matchup center. The Jake McCabe – Chris Tanev defense pairing will likely be joined by a more by-committee forward approach inside the big matchup tonight with Matthews absent.
Down the lineup, the Leafs‘ familiar fourth line remains intact (Lorentz – Kampf – Reaves), while Pontus Holmberg hops back into the lineup at center ice in between Bobby McMann and Nick Robertson. Holmberg hasn’t typically looked his best in the middle and has not produced at the level of a top-nine player so far (zero goals, one assist in 11 games and a team-worst 38.6% xG), so it’s both a big test and a big opportunity for #29 tonight.
The Leafs‘ bottom six, in general, needs to find some answers offensively; Bobby McMann leads the way among the current group with three goals, but two of those were scored on William Nylander’s line in the top six. Nick Robertson and Holmberg each have one point in 11 games, Ryan Reaves has zero points in 10 games, David Kampf has two in 12, and Steven Lorentz has three in 12.
Game Day Quotes.
Jim Montgomery on David Pastrnak’s response to a third-period benching vs. Seattle:
He was incredible. Very vocal picking up players. In the last 15 seconds, he was talking about what a great team win it is.
I have said this numerous times: I am really lucky to work with the leaders I get to work with. I am very fortunate. In other places, you have seen coaches where it is a big problem.
I am lucky with the accountability that exists in this culture and the leaders I get to deal with. It allows me to hold everybody accountable.
Montgomery on dealing with the outside noise and calls for his dismissal:
The way I deal with it… There is a great poem called “Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow.” It is a lot of what I believe in the process of our team.
You only control the present. If you worry about the past and dwell on the past, it brings up anxiety, worry, or contentment, depending on what you are thinking about. If you worry about the future, which you don’t control, then you are really going to have anxiety.
That is where my mindset goes. With the struggles I have had personally, that poem really reinforced what I need to worry about, which is the next 24 hours. That is the way I live my life.
David Pastrnak on his third-period benching vs. Seattle:
I have to be better. You take responsibility for needing to be better, but at the same time, I am just moving forward. I am focusing on the game [tonight]. Yesterday was yesterday. I never look back.
It was a bad turnover. I take responsibility for it — or accountability is the better word. I just want to move forward. I don’t want to be a distraction to the team. The guys know how I feel about them in here.
It was a bad play. I take accountability. Already moving forward.
Craig Berube on the major challenge the Bruins have consistently provided over recent years:
The personnel has changed some, but their culture, how they play the game, and what they value in the game has not changed. They have solid goaltending. They have a big D corps that defends well. Their forwards are solid defensively. They don’t give you much.
You have to earn what you get against them. At the same time, you have to make sure we are not cheating and forcing it too much. We have to play patient against them. It is going to be a key point tonight.
Berube on Max Domi elevating onto the Marner-Knies line in Auston Matthews’ absence:
Max has been in this situation before here. I wasn’t here, but I watched it. Max has been around for a long time. He is a good player and the type of player that relishes that kind of thing. He understands what his job is tonight and what he needs to do. He just goes out and executes.
Berube on the reasons for the Leafs‘ success without Matthews in the past:
I think everyone just digs in more. Different players get different opportunities in situations like this, whether it is more minutes or maybe they are on the power play. They elevate their game.
Everybody needs to elevate their game tonight not just because Auston is out of the lineup but because we are playing the Bruins. It is going to be a good, hard game. We need everyone on board tonight.
Berube on the decision to start Anthony Stolarz in goal:
It is always a discussion with the goalies and where we are at in the schedule. We have a back-to-back coming up after tonight. I liked his game last time, so I chose to go with him tonight.
Montgomery on the recent history against the Leafs:
Every time we play each other, they are great games. They are one-goal games, or there is an empty-netter. I know we have gotten great goaltending. It seems like they are 2-1 or 3-1 games, so they are getting good goaltending. It is physical and honest hockey.
Montgomery on adjustments on the penalty kill if the Leafs run a five-forward PP unit, and whether more pressure needs to be applied to the PPQB up top:
Really, you can’t get out of your structure penalty killing just because there are five forwards, but you do have to expect them to be attacking seams from up top, not only down low.
It really depends on who it is up top. If it is a guy like Marner, who doesn’t shoot very much, you maybe stay off of him, so you are tighter to the next pass. If it is Matthews, you probably want to get out in that shot lane.
Toronto Maple Leafs Projected Lines
Forwards
#23 Matthew Knies — #11 Max Domi — #16 Mitch Marner
#67 Max Pacioretty — #91 John Tavares — #88 William Nylander
#74 Bobby McMann — #29 Pontus Holmberg — #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, Matt Benning
Injured (day-to-day): Auston Matthews
Injured (LTIR): Calle Jarnkrok, Jani Hakanpaa, Connor Dewar, Dakota Mermis
Boston Bruins Projected Lines
Forwards
#63 Brad Marchand — #28 Elias Lindholm — #88 David Pastrnak
#18 Pavel Zacha — #13 Charlie Coyle — #55 Justin Brazeau
#11 Trent Frederic — #90 Tyler Johnson — #51 Matthew Poitras
#19 John Beecher — #47 Mark Kastelic — #39 Morgan Geekie
Defensemen
#27 Hampus Lindholm — #25 Brandon Carlo
#91 Nikita Zadorov — #73 Charlie McAvoy
#29 Parker Wotherspoon — #52 Andrew Peeke
Goaltenders
Starter: #1 Jeremy Swayman
#70 Joonas Korpisalo
