Can the Maple Leafs complete a big weekend sweep of two four-point games against division rivals? They’ll need to do it without the services of William Nylander, who is out day-to-day (7:00 p.m. EST, Sportsnet Ontario).
Game Day Quotes
Craig Berube on the Leafs‘ back-to-back losses to the Red Wings in the first three games of the season:
You always look back at the games. I thought we played a strong game at home against them. We didn’t get the win, but I think we had 40-some shots.
They’re a good team. We know that. They have some great players: Larkin, Raymond, and a big defense core back there. We’ll have to play well.
We have to limit their rush. They’re a good rush team with DeBrincat, and I am not sure if Kane is playing, but they have guys like them, Larkin, Raymond, and their defense is very active. Doing a job up the ice and not getting beaten up the ice all night is going to be a priority; not giving up odd-man rushes, and playing a patient game against them.
Berube on the lessons from the up-and-down win over Ottawa last night:
You look at the mistakes you made in the third period. They’re correctable. Those are things we did well throughout the game and didn’t do well in the third period. At the same time, we go over the good stuff, the puck play, and the offensive things we did well in the game. But you always have to make corrections.
Berube on the message to Easton Cowan as he returns to the lineup:
Nothing. I have communicated with him very well. With a young guy like that, you have to have real good communication, let him know what is going on, and why. He is in a good spot.
McLellan on the back-to-back games coming out of the break:
We are coming off three days of rest. We didn’t skate real well [on Saturday]. Toronto played. We both traveled to Detroit. We have zero excuses to lean on. Based on how our guys skated in the third, I’d like to think we will carry it over in the game against Toronto.
McLellan on the response he is expecting from his team after a 5-2 loss to Carolina on Saturday:
Nobody is happy with the result. We have to park it. We have another divisional opponent coming in who is desperate, won last night, and scored a lot of goals. We have to be prepared for that. We’ll start over and get our game going again. We’ve responded well after losses. We expect that again.
Maple Leafs (17-15-5) vs. Red Wings (22-14-3): Head-to-Head Stats
via NaturalStatTrick.com & AdvancedHockeyStats.com
Toronto Maple Leafs Projected Lines
Forwards
#74 Bobby McMann – #34 Auston Matthews – #11 Max Domi
#63 Matias Maccelli – #91 John Tavares – #23 Matthew Knies
#81 Dakota Joshua – #55 Nicolas Roy – #89 Nick Robertson
#18 Steven Lorentz – #24 Scott Laughton – #53 Easton Cowan
Defensemen
#22 Jake McCabe – #8 Chris Tanev
#95 Oliver Ekman-Larsson – #28 Troy Stecher
#44 Morgan Rielly – #51 Philippe Myers
Goaltenders
Starter: #35 Dennis Hildeby
#60 Joseph Woll
Extras: Simon Benoit, Calle Jarnkrok
Injured/Out: William Nylander (day-to-day), Brandon Carlo (IR), Anthony Stolarz (IR)
Detroit Red Wings Projected Lines
Forwards
#58 Emmitt Finnie – #71 Dylan Larkin – #23 Lucas Raymond
#93 Alex Debrincat – #18 Andrew Copp – #88 Patrick Kane
#27 Michael Rasmussen – #37 JT Compher – #43 John Leonard
#92 Marco Kasper= – #29 Nate Danielson – #22 Mason Appleton
Defensemen
#77 Simon Edvinsson – #53 Moritz Seider
#8 Ben Chiarot – #44 Axel Sandin-Pellikka
#20 Albert Johansson – #25 Jacob Bernard-Docker
Goaltenders
Starter: #39 Cam Talbot
#36 John Gibson
