A tired and now Matthews-less Maple Leafs team is seeking their fourth straight win against a New York Islanders team that is well-rested, desperate, and nearly fully healthy (7:00 p.m. EST, Sportsnet/CBC).
Game Day Quotes
Craig Berube on Auston Matthews’ situation:
He is just not going to go tonight. He took a cross-check late in the third period on the power play. It just aggravated it.
Berube on the team’s play without Auston Matthews this season:
They’ve played well. If you look back at the games when he was out, we checked extremely well because we need to. Was our scoring down a little bit? Yes, but we were still winning close hockey games because everyone was focusing on the checking part and doing their job.
Guys stepped up with him out. They stepped up big for us. I expect the same.
Chris Tanev on the challenge presented by the Islanders:
We are playing a good team and a desperate team who worked extremely hard. They have been sitting for a few days. I am sure they are eager and ready to play.
Tanev on the play of the new defense pairings vs. Buffalo:
Good, for the most part. We moved the puck. We all skated and contributed in our own ways.
We have seven really good defensemen. Throughout the year, you are going to play with different people at different times. Being able to play with different guys is really good, and it gives the team flexibility to do what they want on any given night.
Nick Robertson on managing a tired situation in the back-to-back:
Just keep the shifts short to start. The energy is probably not the same as it was before last game, so keep it short, get a feel for the game, and then give it everything we’ve got. We’ve got a day off tomorrow, so there is nothing to keep the energy stored for.
Islanders head coach Patrick Roy on the keys to taking advantage of a tired Leafs team:
It is not that much of an advantage. How long is that flight? 20 minutes coming back? It is a short trip for them.
Everybody needs to play hard. Sometimes, the first period is an advantage for you because you’ve played the night before against a team that did not, so you get off to a good start.
Everybody wants a good start. It is important for them and for us.
Head-to-Head Stats: Maple Leafs (21-10-2) vs. Islanders (12-14-7)
In the 2024-25 regular season statistics, Toronto holds the advantage in five out of five offensive categories, but New York holds the advantage in three out of five defensive categories.
Toronto Maple Leafs Projected Lines
Forwards
#23 Matthew Knies— #64 David Kampf — #16 Mitch Marner
#67 Max Pacioretty — #91 John Tavares — #88 William Nylander
#74 Bobby McMann — #11 Max Domi — #89 Nick Robertson
#18 Steven Lorentz — #24 Connor Dewar — #75 Ryan Reaves
Defensemen
#95 Oliver Ekman-Larsson — #8 Chris Tanev
#44 Morgan Rielly — #25 Conor Timmins
#2 Simon Benoit — #22 Jake McCabe
Goaltenders
Starter: #60 Joseph Woll
#35 Dennis Hildeby
Extras: Pontus Holmberg, Philippe Myers
Injured: Auston Matthews
Injured (IR): Jani Hakanpää, Anthony Stolarz
Injured (LTIR): Calle Jarnkrok
New York Islanders Projected Lines
Forwards
#11 Anthony Duclair — #29 Brock Nelson — #21 Kyle Palmieri
#7 Maxim Tsyplakov — #14 Bo Horvat — #10 Simon Holmstrom
#27 Anders Lee — #44 JG Pageau — #13 Mathew Barzal
#32 Kyle MacLean — #53 Casey Cizikas — #20 Hudson Fasching
Defensemen
#3 Adam Pelech — #6 Ryan Pulock
#28 Alexander Romanov — #8 Noah Dobson
#36 Isaiah George — #24 Scott Mayfield
Goaltenders
Starter: #30 Ilya Sorokin
#50 Marcus Hogberg
Injured: Mike Reilly, Semyon Varlamov
