The Maple Leafs are seeking consecutive wins for the first time this season when they host the 2-3-0 New York Rangers tonight at Scotiabank Arena (7:00 p.m. EST, TSN4).
Game Day Quotes
Craig Berube on the challenges presented by the Rangers under new head coach Mike Sullivan:
They’ve got a lot of good players — we all know that — and their goaltending is strong, obviously. They have high skill and can make plays. That is the biggest threat that I see with them.
Now, with the coach, they have a bit of a new style and a new identity of how he wants them to play. I think they will be a more aggressive team in general under [Mike Sullivan]. They will come at you harder.
At the same time, we have to focus on our game and take care of business. We talk about checking, and we have to check tonight. If we check and do a good job, we’ll get offense, but we have to make sure we are tight on people and aren’t giving too much time and space out there to the Panarins, Zibanejads, and so on.
We have to get to our game early against these guys and keep it for 60 minutes.
Berube on the differences in the Rangers’ checking game under Sullivan:
I see more aggression defending out of the offensive zone with them. Their defensemen are tight. They are going to be down on you. They are reloading hard. It is a faster game, I believe.
Sully’s defensive zone is a lot like ours, I would say. They will take care of the middle of the ice, box people, and get into them in their own zone.
Auston Matthews on Easton Cowan’s hockey IQ:
I think he has a really good five or 10-foot play. He moves the puck and then moves himself. He is a really cerebral player. He is not the biggest guy, but the way he is able to think the game has made him the elite kind of player he has been growing up and now transitioning into pro.
Matthews on Cowan’s maturity and ability to handle the moment as a rookie:
He doesn’t strike me as a guy who overthinks things or puts time and energy into things that don’t really matter. I think he just loves the game, likes to come to the rink, and just wants to play hockey at the highest level he can. That is what he has been doing, and it makes him successful.
Matthews on how Cowan has handled the physicality of the NHL game so far:
Good. He is a smaller guy, but he is not afraid of the dirty areas. He took a couple of cheap hits — the one going to the net, and stuff like that — but he is strong. He is deceptively a lot stronger than he maybe looks. He has handled it really well. He understands the nature of moving up and playing at this level. There are a lot of big, strong guys out there, and you have to protect yourself. He does a good job of that.
Mike Sullivan on his team’s progress towards improving defensively over last season:
It’s been a message we have preached to the team from day one. What do we want Rangers hockey to look like? If we are going to ultimately get to where we want to go, we have to make a commitment to playing team defense and playing within structure.
A big part of that is defending the rush. Some of the highest conversion rates on chances come off the rush. Our ability to limit chances is going to go a long way to setting our team up for success as far as keeping the puck out of our own net.
When you play a team like Edmonton, I don’t know if there is a more dangerous team off the rush. I give the players a lot of credit; I thought we did a really good job and had numbers back a lot all night long. There were layers of defense, and we were willing to block shots when we had to.
The guys did a really good job in terms of their commitment to playing the game the right way, and I think that is something to build on moving forward.
Sullivan on his growing trust in his fourth line of Adam Edstrom – Sam Carrick – Matt Rempe:
I have gained more trust because of the game they’re playing. We have sat with that line and talked to them about their identity, what their contribution is, and how they can or need to play to help the Rangers win hockey games.
When they play a north-south, straight-ahead game and establish a forecheck, it allows them to use their physicality to their advantage. That is clearly an advantage that they have with their size and strength.
I think they are buying in. They are playing a straight-ahead game. They have really cut out a lot of risk in their game by nature of playing straight ahead. The byproduct is that they are creating a lot of offense.
All three of those guys have generated a fair number of scoring chances. I believe they are going to score. If they continue to generate those types of looks, the puck will go in the net for them.
Regardless, the game they are playing right now makes them hard to play against. They are wearing teams down. They make it hard on our opponent’s defensemen. They’re a handful, and I think they are playing extremely well right now. It has been reflected in the amount of ice time they’re getting. Those who play will get rewarded with further play, and those guys are getting rewarded right now for how they’re playing.
Sullivan on how his team is weathering the absence of Vincent Trocheck:
We have tried to create a little bit of balance in his absence. Mika (Zibanejad) has played extremely well in the middle and has had a really strong start to his season. He could easily have three or four goals, and maybe we wouldn’t be having this conversation.
Mika has had a strong start. They drive offense because they’re talented. [Panarin] drives offense. [Lafreniere] gets a few looks a game because he’s talented.
We’re trying to work with those guys on the defensive side of the puck and making sure it doesn’t turn into a chance-for-chance game. We don’t think that is a recipe for success. We want to stack the deck in our favour.
They will drive offense because they are talented guys who have had a fair number of looks. We can help them improve on the defensive side and make sure there is a little more honesty in their game, which makes us harder to play against.
JT Miller’s line has had a number of looks in the last few games and has also played well.
Troch isn’t an easy guy to replace. He is one of our best players and plays in all situations. But I think the guys we are putting in these situations have the right intent going over the boards.
Toronto Maple Leafs Projected Lines
Forwards
#23 Matthew Knies – #34 Auston Matthews – #53 Easton Cowan
#63 Matias Maccelli – #91 John Tavares – #88 William Nylander
#74 Bobby McMann – #11 Max Domi – #89 Nick Robertson
#81 Dakota Joshua – #55 Nicolas Roy – #19 Calle Jarnkrok
Defensemen
#22 Jake McCabe – #8 Chris Tanev
#44 Morgan Rielly – #25 Brandon Carlo
#2 Simon Benoit – #95 Oliver Ekman-Larsson
Goaltenders
Starter: #41 Anthony Stolarz
#30 Cayden Primeau
Extras: Steven Lorentz, Philippe Myers, Sammy Blais
Injured: Scott Laughton (week-to-week, LBI)
Out: Joseph Woll (personal)
New York Rangers Projected Lines
Forwards
#10 Artemi Panarin – #93 Mika Zibanejad – #13 Alexis Lafreniere
#50 Will Cuylle – #8 JT Miller – #43 Conor Sheary
#22 Jonny Brodzinski – #42 Noah Laba – #14 Taylor Raddysh
#84 Adam Edstrom – #39 Sam Carrick – #73 Matt Rempe
Defensemen
#44 Vladislav Gavrikov – #23 Adam Fox
#4 Braden Schneider – #18 Urho Vaakanainen
#29 Matthew Robertson – #14 Connor Mackey
Goaltenders
Starter: #31 Igor Shesterkin
#32 Jonathan Quick
Injured: Vincent Trocheck, Carson Soucy, Will Borgen
