Anthony Stolarz will return to the crease after 56 days on the IR and the Maple Leafs will debut a new loaded-up line (Nylander-Tavares-Marner) as they seek their third straight win on the West Coast road trip tonight in Seattle (10:00 p.m. EST, TSN4).
Game Day Quotes
Mitch Marner on the opportunity to play on a line with William Nylander and John Tavares:
I have played with Willy a handful of times. With his skill set and his speed out there, I am going to try to really uilize that and get him in good spots with the puck in his hands with open ice.
With Johnny, you know what you are getting: consistency, a guy who has a chance to score any time he has the puck in the slot, and he is great at tipping pucks around the net.
It will be fun. I am excited.
William Nylander on how he used his off-day in Seattle on Wednesday:
I was in my room all day chillin’. I was watching that OJ stuff.
Nylander on playing the left wing:
You get a different look at everything. I kind of like playing the off-wing a little bit more. We will see how it goes tonight.
Craig Berube on the challenge presented by the Kraken:
They have a good rush game. With Montour and Dunn back there, they are really involved up in the play. They are a fast team that transitions quickly.
Again, we have to have the puck tonight. We have to hang onto it and force them to play in their own zone as much as we can. That will be the key, as well as reloading, getting above people, checking from behind, and not giving up those opportunities.
They have some good players with a lot of speed — a lot of speed.
Berube on the decision to form a Nylander-Tavares-Marner line:
I kept the line together with Matthews, Domi, and Knies. I thought they had a really good game (in Calgary). I liked Max on the line. It felt like he had more juice in the game. I want to keep him going.
I talked to the guys about William Nylander going on the left wing and Mitch on the right with JT. Mitch has played some really good hockey with JT this year, so we’ll see how it goes.
Berube on whether rust is to be expected from Anthony Stolarz in his first game since December 12:
That is a good question. Who knows? We’ll see how the game goes.
We have to do a good job in front of him and make sure that we are tight tonight, limiting their rush game. (The Kraken) have a really good rush game, and we don’t need to be giving them chances off the rush. Our jobs, as defenders and forwards, is being really good defensively, tight, and not giving that stuff up. We have to check hard tonight.
Head-to-Head Stats: Maple Leafs (32-19-2) vs. Kraken (23-28-4)
In the 2024-25 regular season statistics, Toronto holds the advantage in three out of five offensive categories and five out of five defensive categories.
Toronto Maple Leafs Projected Lines
Forwards
#23 Matthew Knies — #34 Auston Matthews — #11 Max Domi
#88 William Nylander — #91 John Tavares — #16 Mitch Marner
#74 Bobby McMann — #29 Pontus Holmberg — #89 Nick Robertson
#67 Max Pacioretty — #64 David Kampf — #18 Steven Lorentz
Defensemen
#22 Jake McCabe — #8 Chris Tanev
#44 Morgan Rielly — #95 Oliver Ekman-Larsson
#2 Simon Benoit — #51 Philippe Myers
Goaltenders
Starter: #41 Anthony Stolarz
#60 Joseph Woll
Extras: Ryan Reaves, Dakota Mermis, Conor Timmins, Matt Murray
Injured (IR): Connor Dewar
Injured (LTIR): Calle Jarnkrok, Jani Hakanpää
Seattle Kraken Projected Lines
Forwards
#17 Jaden Schwartz — #10 Matty Beniers — #84 Kaapo Kakko
#20 Eeli Tolvanen — #9 Chandler Stephenson — #22 Oliver Bjorkstrand
#19 Jared McCann — #51 Shane Wright — #95 Andre Burakovsky
#12 Tye Kartye — #67 Mitchell Stephens — #13 Brandon Tanev
Defensemen
#29 Vince Dunn — #6 Adam Larsson
#24 Jamie Oleksiak — #62 Brandon Montour
#28 Josh Mahura — #8 Cale Fleury
Goaltenders
Starter: #35 Joey Daccord
#30 Ales Stezka
Injured: Jordan Eberle, Yanni Gourde, Ryker Evans
