With Joseph Woll between the pipes for the first time this season, the Maple Leafs are hoping to avoid their first five-game losing streak since April 2021 as the injury adversity continues to mount (Brandon Carlo is out day-to-day). Two Original Six rivals square off tonight in Chicago (7:00 p.m. EST, Sportsnet).
Game Day Quotes
Craig Berube on the challenge presented by the Blackhawks:
They’re playing well. Their young guys have really taken a step, in my opinion. Their backend is big and long. Bedard is playing at a high level right now. Their goaltending has been really good; Knight has been great.
Berube on the addition of Troy Stecher:
Right-hand shot. Very competitive player. He has been around and has experience. More than anything, it’s about getting that right-hand shot.
He’s a competitive guy — he really is — and he has to be. We were looking for another D, and the right-hand shot was kind of what we needed.
Nic Roy on the Blackhawks:
Really good offensive team that is really good on the rush and has a good power play. We’re going to have to be disciplined and careful in the neutral zone with turnovers. They’re a pretty good team right now.
Berube on throwing together the Knies-Roy-Cowan line:
Roy has had the puck a lot and transported up the ice well. He is hanging onto pucks in the offensive zone. With Cowan there, you have a guy who can make plays and does the same sort of thing. He can transport it up ice and make plays.
We have Kniesy with those guys, and I think Kniesy had a strong game in the last game. He can help balance that line out a little bit.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson on the positives to build off of from the OT loss to LA:
We were a little bit tighter in the neutral zone. I liked that side of things. We came together. We are looking to build off that. We worked on it the day before or the day of the last game, so we can hopefully continue to build on it.
I liked the way we defended, for the most part; it was a little better, but we have some stuff to improve still, obviously.
Joseph Woll on his first NHL start of the season:
It’s been a bit of a weird start to the season, like we’ve talked about before. I’m just pumped to get going.
Blackhawks head coach Jeff Blashill on the challenge he’s expecting from a struggling Leafs team:
One that is hungry. We are ready to get their best, for sure.
They’re missing Auston, and we certainly recognize how that goes. A guy like Auston is one of the best players in the league. With that said, they have really good players still in their lineup — elite, elite players.
We’re expecting to get their best.
Blashill on his team’s second-period struggles (-9 goal differential):
When we are not playing our best, we are not breaking the puck out clean, and we are not spending enough time in the offensive zone. That is amplified in the second period.
You can get away with it a little bit in the first and third, and then in the second, it really gets hammered because you can’t get people on and off the ice. In the first, you can kind of get people on and off the ice.
It’s mainly that. When we are not breaking it out cleanly enough, we don’t spend enough O-zone time, so it becomes a never-ending cycle.
Connor Bedard on the challenge against the Leafs, who are mired in a four-game losing skid:
They’re a good team. It feels like every year, in the first 10-15 games, the whole city is kind of panicked. But they’re a good team, and we’re excited to play them. It should be fun.
They have high-end talent. Obviously, Matthews is out, but Nylander and those guys can make plays, and if you are not aware for a second, they can make you pay. We have to be aware of that.
Bedard on what he admires about William Nylander’s game:
It seems like he is always in a spot to make a play or beat a guy. I think he is one of the funnest guys to watch in the league. He is someone you can learn a lot from watching.
With his edge work, every time he is coming out of a turn or has a guy on him, he is always so balanced. That helps him make more plays. He is one of the top guys in the league at that. Fun to watch.
Blashill on Nylander:
World-class skill. He’s as skilled as anyone in the league. He can change the game with his skill at any moment. He’s a very, very smart hockey player who knows when to take off and get into those breakaway situations.
Tremendous amount of respect for the player he is and what he brings to the table. We know he can change a game in an instant. Certainly, he’s someone we’re going to have to know when he is on the ice.
Bedard on playing with Tyler Bertuzzi, who is out of the lineup tonight:
It is nice because I know where he is going to be. He goes and gets the puck back. He is just a dog. It makes the game a lot easier for me.
If you ask anyone who has played with him, they’ve had a blast. We’re fortunate to have him.
Maple Leafs (8-8-2) vs. Blackhawks (8-5-4): Head-to-Head Stats
Toronto Maple Leafs Projected Lines
Forwards
#89 Nick Robertson – #91 John Tavares – #88 William Nylander
#23 Matthew Knies – #55 Nicolas Roy – #53 Easton Cowan
#63 Matias Maccelli – #11 Max Domi – #74 Bobby McMann
#81 Dakota Joshua – #18 Steven Lorentz – #19 Calle Jarnkrok
Defensemen
#44 Morgan Rielly — #51 Philippe Myers
#2 Simon Benoit – #22 Jake McCabe
#36 Dakota Mermis – #95 Oliver Ekman-Larsson
Goaltenders
Starter: #60 Joseph Woll
#35 Dennis Hildeby
Extras: Sammy Blais, Troy Stecher
Injured/Out: Brandon Carlo (day-to-day), Anthony Stolarz (IR), Auston Matthews (IR), Scott Laughton (IR), Chris Tanev (IR)
Chicago Blackhawks Projected Lines
Forwards
#20 Ryan Greene – #98 Connor Bedard – #28 Andre Burakovsky
#86 Teuvo Teravainen – #91 Frank Nazar – #11 Oliver Moore
#95 Ilya Mikheyev – #8 Ryan Donato – #34 Colton Dach
#84 Landon Slaggert – #17 Nick Foligno – #24 Sam Lafferty
Defensemen
#72 Alex Vlasic – #45 Louis Crevier
#44 Wyatt Kaiser – #55 Artyom Levshunov
#24 Matt Grzelcyk – #5 Connor Murphy
Goaltenders
Starter: #30 Spencer Knight
#40 Arvid Soderblom
Injured: Jason Dickinson, Tyler Bertuzzi, Laurent Brossoit
