Playing their third game in four days (and sixth in 10 days since the break), the Maple Leafs seek their sixth win in a row tonight but must avoid the trap game against the bottom-feeding San Jose Sharks (7:30 p.m. EST, Amazon Prime).
Game Day Quotes
Craig Berube on his expectations for Calle Järnkrok in his first game of the season:
He has played a long time in the league. He knows how to play. He has practiced really well and looks good. I expect him to have good energy out there.
He is a smart player. That line could be effective at both ends of the rink. I think they can get us some opportunities to score some goals, but it should be a good line that can check and go against any of their lines tonight.
Conor Timmins on the return of Järnkrok:
It is great to see. We see all the behind-the-scenes stuff that you guys don’t. He has been working so hard. He came to work every day. We are excited to have him back.
He is a Swiss army knife. He can score. He plays well defensively. It’s a big boost to our lineup.
Berube on the keys to managing a busy schedule — six in 10 nights — with a quick stop on home ice tonight:
It is just something you have to deal with. You can make all the excuses you want. This is what it is. This is the schedule. You just have to be mentally tough and grind it out tonight.
It is not going to be an easy game by any means. This team has some players over there. Celebrini is a hell of a player. They are going to come out and be excited to play here tonight. We have to make sure we are ready to go. They can make plays.
We have to get after this team tonight, check, play our game, and not just go through the motions.
Berube on the threat Macklin Celebrini poses for the Sharks:
Pace, speed, skill. He really attacks. He looks like he is going to be a really good player.
Berube on the team winning a couple of games in a row without playing their best hockey:
We always do a review of things. In the last game, we had a great start to the game. We were outshooting them 13-2 at one point and were up 2-0. You just make a couple of mistakes, and it is tied up.
For me, in that game, I liked a lot of things, except the score. We just made too many mistakes, and for me, they are mental mistakes.
Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky on his team’s mindset amid a miserable season of results:
Any time we lace up our skates, we have an opportunity to get better individually and as a group. Every time we have an opportunity to lace up our skates and play a hockey game, we have an opportunity to win it.
That has been our mindset all road trip. We have been in every game. Arguably, we could’ve won all of them. But this is where we are at right now. These are the results we are getting.
I think we are doing some good things. We are competing. Our guys are digging in. I have to give them credit. We just have to get over the top and find a way to get two points.
… Ignore the noise. Don’t worry about what the outside people think. We have a chance to get better every time.
This is a big lesson for myself, for our coaching staff, and for our players. In life, you are going to get hit by some adversity. How are you going to respond to that? Are you going to give up, or are you going to get up and keep swinging?
We’re going to keep swinging.
Head-to-Head Stats: Maple Leafs (38-20-2) vs. Sharks (15-37-9)
In the 2024-25 regular season statistics, Toronto holds the advantage in five out of five offensive categories and five out of five defensive categories.
Toronto Maple Leafs Projected Lines
Forwards
#23 Matthew Knies — #34 Auston Matthews — #16 Mitch Marner
#29 Pontus Holmberg — #91 John Tavares — #88 William Nylander
#74 Bobby McMann — #11 Max Domi — #89 Nick Robertson
#24 Connor Dewar — #64 David Kampf — #19 Calle Järnkrok
Defensemen
#44 Morgan Rielly — #95 Oliver Ekman-Larsson
#22 Jake McCabe — #51 Philippe Myers
#2 Simon Benoit — #25 Conor Timmins
Goaltenders
Starter: #41 Anthony Stolarz
#60 Joseph Woll
Extras: Dakota Mermis, Ryan Reaves
Out: Steven Lorentz
Injured (IR): Max Pacioretty, Chris Tanev
Injured (LTIR): Jani Hakanpää
San Jose Sharks Projected Lines
Forwards
#72 William Eklund — #71 Macklin Celebrini* — #73 Tyler Toffoli
#20 Fabian Zetterlund — #21 Alex Wennberg — #2 Will Smith
Collin Graf — #7 Nico Sturm — #11 Luke Kunin
#91 Carl Grundstrom — #53 Ty Dellandrea — #23 Barclay Goodrow
Defensemen
#96 Jake Walman — #37 Timothy Liljegren
#38 Mario Ferraro — #85 Shakir Mukhamadullin
#44 Marc-Edouard Vlasic — #26 Jack Thompson
Goaltenders
Starter: #40 Alexandar Georgiev
#41 Vitek Vanecek
*game-time decision
Injured: Logan Couture, Jan Rutta, Nikolai Kovalenko
