The Maple Leafs are looking to complete the season-series sweep against the Tampa Bay Lightning (two points behind, same games played) in a big four-point game that will go a long way in deciding the coming-down-to-the-wire Atlantic Division race (7:00 p.m. EST, Sportsnet).
Game Day Quotes
Craig Berube on his team’s success against Tampa in the season series so far:
You have to do a good job with your penalty kill. You have to be disciplined. I think we had a five-minute major against them this year early on. Our penalty kill has been good against them, and it has to be good. We have to be disciplined.
You have to do a good job of checking their top players. They are obviously really good and competitive players. We have to do a good job of that, and we did a good job of counterattacking them. We checked well. We were able to create something the other way off of it. I think we did a good job of that in the three games this year so far against them.
Berube on the keys to keeping Nikita Kucherov quiet:
You have to take time and space away from him and be hard and physical on him as much as you can. At the same time, he is such a good playmaker and has eyes on the back of his head almost. He knows where his linemates are and will make a play under pressure to them. He is an elite, elite player. We all know it.
At the same time, we have to go at him. We have to take time and space away from him. We have to have good sticks against him with good stick details and take away his options. We need to get sticks on pucks because when he is under pressure, he will still make a play.
Berube on the message to his team today after last night’s loss to Florida:
It’s a lot of what we talked about last night. We’ll move on. It is a big game tonight. First place (is up for grabs). It’s a very good team in Tampa. We know what they are all about. We have to be a lot more competitive, win more puck battles than we did last night, and show more urgency in our game than last night. That is what it boils down to.
Berube on whether his top players’ offensive success against Andrei Vasilievskiy is a source of confidence for them entering this matchup:
For sure. They are confident, anyhow, but it is about traffic, rebounds, and those types of things. You have to outcompete the goalie. We have to get pucks to the net with traffic and then win those battles. I can think of two or three goals we scored against them this year in those types of situations.
Jon Cooper on whether his message to his team included a reference to losing all three games to Toronto this season:
When you drive your car, do you look in the rearview mirror the whole time, or do you look out the windshield?
Cooper on his team’s marked defensive improvement this season over last:
It is game #77, and we are third (in goals against). If you want to give yourselves a chance to get in the playoffs and make a run, those are the kinds of stats you need to have. You have to do it in the playoffs as well.
Our team has changed a bit. We have more emphasis on how we play in our d-zone. We tweaked some things. The goalie has been really good. If you add up the whole thing, the acquisition of Ryan McDonagh has probably helped on the defensive side of things.
The growth of Lilleberg, Perbix, and Raddysh — the young guys coming in — has helped, and the addition of JJ Moser has helped. Our forwards have done a pretty good job as well.
We have been emphasizing it, and it has worked out. If we can play D like this moving forward, I like it. The big thing for us is getting better at limiting chances off of the rush.
Head-to-Head Stats: Maple Leafs (47-26-4) vs. Lightning (45-26-6)
In the 2024-25 regular season statistics, Tampa Bay holds the advantage in four out of five offensive categories and four out of five defensive categories.
Toronto Maple Leafs Projected Lines
Forwards
#23 Matthew Knies — #34 Auston Matthews — #16 Mitch Marner
#19 Calle Jarnkrok — #91 John Tavares — #88 William Nylander
#74 Bobby McMann — #11 Max Domi — #89 Nick Robertson
#29 Pontus Holmberg — #24 Scott Laughton — #18 Steven Lorentz
Defensemen
#95 Oliver Ekman-Larsson — #8 Chris Tanev
#44 Morgan Rielly — #25 Brandon Carlo
#2 Simon Benoit — #51 Philippe Myers
Goaltenders
Starter: #41 Anthony Stolarz
#60 Joseph Woll
Injured: Jake McCabe, David Kampf
Injured (LTIR): Jani Hakanpää, Max Pacioretty
Tampa Bay Lightning Projected Lines
Forwards
#37 Yanni Gourde— #21 Brayden Point — #86 Nikita Kucherov
#38 Brandon Hagel — #71 Anthony Cirelli — #93 Gage Gonclaves
#22 Oliver Bjorkstrand — #20 Nick Paul
#28 Zemgus Girgensons — #11 Luke Glendening — #13 Cam Atkinson
Defensemen
#27 Victor Hedman — #90 J.J. Moser
#27 Ryan McDonagh — #81 Erik Cernak
#78 Emil Lilleberg — #48 Nick Perbix
Goaltenders
Starter: #88 Andrei Vasilevskiy
#31 Jonas Johansson
Out: Jake Guentzel
