The second half of the Maple Leafs’ schedule gets underway with a big four-point game against the Florida Panthers, who are two points ahead in the standings entering tonight’s divisional matchup (7:30 p.m. EST, Sportsnet Ontario).
Game Day Quotes
Craig Berube on the magnitude of tonight’s matchup:
It’s a huge game, obviously. We can actually tie them in points tonight, so we can move up or keep moving up. We know Florida very well, and they’re playing well. I know they have injuries, too, but it is going to be a tough, hard game.
We know that from that seven-game series last year. They play a certain way, and they really don’t deviate from it. They’re going to come at you in all areas of the ice tonight, and there is not going to be a lot of room. You have to be comfortable with that and patient in our game. It comes down to competing and working tonight.
Berube on the return of Brandon Carlo to the lineup:
He is a stability guy, right? It is his first game back in a long time, so we have to manage his game and his minutes, but he is a guy who eats minutes, gets in the way, blocks shots, and all of that type of stuff. He has a good stick. He is a good defensive defenseman — good around his net, and a good penalty killer.
Steven Lorentz on facing his former team with two points separating the Leafs and Panthers in the standings:
It is a game on our schedule that I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have it circled. There are always a few that mean a little bit extra. This is one of them.
We are coming in here tonight with a big two points on the line. We know where we are in the standings, especially with these guys, and it is so tight in our division. We are excited to get going against these guys.
Every game means something. It’s the first game of the second half of the year, and teams are trying to get ready and find that identity before playoffs come. As of late, we have started to get it more and more, and we are playing more complete and consistent. It’s a good sign for our group.
Lorentz on the Panthers’ style of play and keys to success against them:
There are still things I use that I learned from their system to this day. I know how they play. It is going to be tight checking. They are not going to give up a lot off the rush.
That said, I think we have to use our speed and trust the system. When we get pucks behind their D, we have guys who are going to be on the puck and on them.
That’s what we expect from them. We are going to go back to get pucks in our end, and they will have two guys really close. They’re going to be very well-connected. We almost have to play that kind of game, and it is the type of game we’ve been trying to play throughout the season. I think we’ve been a lot better in the last few weeks.
Brad Marchand on the challenge against the Leafs as a team, as experienced in the second round last spring:
They just seem like they’ve become a hard team to play against, and that was a much tougher series than we maybe thought it was going to be. They competed very hard. That (game 7) was a big win. It was a must-win for us, and a big one to make sure we were prepared moving forward.
Marchand on the meaning of tonight’s game:
Every team is so close in the East. Every night is so important, especially the divisional games, which we have a bunch of this week. They’re going to be very important for all of the teams. It starts tonight, and we have to make sure we have our best game to start the road trip on a good note. We have to keep rolling. The points are so important for both teams, and they’re going to feel the same. It should make for an intense game.
Paul Maurice on his team’s recent play amid a dogfight in the Eastern Conference playoff picture:
The Toronto game is the last one I really didn’t like at home, and after that, we have been a pretty good team. But we are all going to suffer those bad weeks — those three in a row that don’t go your way, and the world is coming to an end. A week later, you are right there. That is going to be a big part of the mentality going through this.
Maurice on the competitive landscape in the division and league at large:
The Atlantic Division is better than people think it is. Clearly, Colorado and Dallas…. We have two with Minny and oen with Edmonton, but we are done with everybody else in the top six. There are two or three really powerful teams over there. I think there is no bottom end to our side, and then I also think there are some really good teams.
I think New Jersey is a really good team; they’re all banged up. Tampa has done a miraculous job with their injuries. We are not sure what we look like with the guys we have had out. Detroit flat-out beat us; they were legit wins, not lucky. This is going to be an absolute scratch and claw to the end of the year.
It is going to be really hard to get in the playoffs, but if you are one of the 16 that does… In fairness, Colorado beat us in Colorado, and we were in a back-to-back. They beat us 6-2. It could’ve been 12-2, and I don’t think they got out of second gear. I don’t think they had to. That, to me, is the team that we’ve seen that is head and shoulders above us, but we have 41 games to get better. Everybody just has to keep trying to get better. That is all.
Maple Leafs (19-15-7) vs. Panthers (22-16-3): 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
#53 Easton Cowan – #55 Nicolas Roy – #89 Nick Robertson
#18 Steven Lorentz – #24 Scott Laughton – #19 Calle Jarnkrok
Defensemen
#44 Morgan Rielly – #25 Brandon Carlo
#95 Oliver Ekman-Larsson – #28 Troy Stecher
#2 Simon Benoit – #51 Philippe Myers
Goaltenders
Starter: #60 Joseph Woll
#35 Dennis Hildeby
Extras: Matt Benning, Jacob Quillan
Injured/Out: Jake McCabe (one week*), William Nylander (day-to-day), Chris Tanev (IR), Dakota Joshua (IR), Dakota Mermis (IR), Anthony Stolarz (LTIR)
*A Craig Berube “one week”
Florida Panthers Projected Lines
Forwards
#27 Eetu Luostarinen – #15 Anton Lundell – #13 Sam Reinhart
#23 Carter Verhaeghe – #9 Sam Bennett – #63 Brad Marchand
#11 Mackie Samoskevich – #17 Evan Rodrigues – #10 AJ Greer
#70 Jesper Boqvist – #71 Luke Kunin – #18 Noah Gregor
Defensemen
#42 Gustav Forsling – #5 Aaron Ekblad
#77 Niko Mikkola – #26 Uvis Balinskis
#6 Donovan Sebrango – #2 Jeff Petry
Goaltenders
Starter: #72 Sergei Bobrovsky
#40 Daniil Tarasov
Injured/Out: Seth Jones, Matthew Tkachuk, Aleksander Barkov, Dmitry Kulikov, Jonah Gadjovich, Tomas Nosek
