It’s a big one tonight at Scotiabank Arena: Can the Maple Leafs avoid the season-series sweep against the Red Wings and narrow the gap in the standings to six points with a game in hand? (7:00 p.m. EST, Sportsnet).
Game Day Quotes
Red Wings head coach Todd McLellan on the challenge he expects from the Leafs coming off their underwhelming performance against Minnesota:
We expect them to be who they are. They’re a really good hockey club. They went through some spells, but all teams do that. They’re on home ice. They’re the Leafs. They have some key players playing pretty well right now. We expect their best. We’d better be prepared and ready to go.
McLellan on the difficulty of quieting Auston Matthews when he’s rolling:
Well, he is a 70-goal scorer. Those don’t grow on trees. When he’s hot and feeling good, he can score from just about anywhere on the ice. He is feeling it right now. He can take over a game on his own.
We have to be aware of that, but they have a lot of other players who are playing well and have been effective over the last little bit.
Troy Stecher on the keys to shutting down the Detroit offense:
They’re extremely dangerous off the rush. I think they are one of the top five teams in the league at creating chances off the rush.
When placing the puck when you’re entering the zone — whether it is a hard rim or a soft chip — you don’t want to turn it over, because they’re going to counter, and that is when they get their odd-man rushes.
It is about being disciplined with the puck. Sometimes, less is more.
Stecher on the keys to bouncing back from a rough game against Minnesota:
We have to get back to our game like we know how. We had a great stretch there, dating back to the last game of the road trip. It was kind of a one-off last game. Understanding the magnitude of today — against a division rival, and the points are crucial — it is a big test.
Max Domi on the meaning of tonight’s game:
Huge game tonight. The last game is behind us. That is the beauty of playing every other day. You have to have a short memory.
Good challenge. We’ve played Detroit quite a bit this year. We know how good they are, but we just have to stick to our game and worry about ourselves, and we’ll be fine.
Domi on the challenge against the Red Wings:
They’re a really good transition team. If you look at their o-zone, they have the ability to maintain pressure throughout a whole shift and use low-to-high to really take up the whole ice and stretch it out pretty good. It makes the zone pretty hard to defend. They’re a good hockey team.
Domi on his friendship with Patrick Kane:
I look up to him like an older brother, for sure. I only played with him for five or six months (in Chicago), but we always talk about how close we got in such a short period of time when we played together. He gets mad at me for saying it, but I always looked up to him as a kid.
When I got to play with him, it was certainly a highlight in my career: getting to learn from him every day, and seeing how he handles himself on and off the ice. He’s a true professional who loves the game, and he’s one of the best to ever do it.
Craig Berube on the reasons for the Leafs‘ struggles vs. Detroit this season (0-2-1):
If I look at their goaltending this year, it has been really good. Gibson has played really well for them. That is one area.
There is also the development of the two big D — Seider and Edvinsson — and them getting a little more experience. There is a certain number of games a defenseman needs to play in the NHL before they’re at a real good level. I think they’re there, and I think that pairing is excellent. Big, mobile — they do it all.
They are getting some pretty balanced scoring from their lineup. A guy like Raymond is a little bit older now and is coming into his own. Larkin has been a very good player. Debrincat is still scoring a lot of goals.
Overall, their goaltending and their two big D are a big part of it.
Maple Leafs (24-17-8) vs. Red Wings (30-16-4): 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 Nic Roy – #89 Nick Robertson
#18 Steven Lorentz – #24 Scott Laughton – #19 Calle Jarnkrok
Defensemen
#22 Jake McCabe – #95 Oliver Ekman-Larsson
#44 Morgan Rielly – #25 Brandon Carlo
#2 Simon Benoit – #28 Troy Stecher
Goaltenders
Starter: #60 Joseph Woll
#35 Dennis Hildeby
Extras: Jacob Quillan, Philippe Myers, Matt Benning
Injured: William Nylander (day-to-day), Chris Tanev (IR), Dakota Joshua (IR), Dakota Mermis (LTIR), Anthony Stolarz (LTIR)
Detroit Red Wings Projected Lines
Forwards
#92 Marco Kasper – #71 Dylan Larkin – #23 Lucas Raymond
#93 Alex Debrincat – #18 Andrew Copp – #88 Patrick Kane
#58 Emmitt Finnie – #37 JT Compher – #21 James van Riemsdyk
#85 Elmer Soderblom – #27 Michael Rasmussen – #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: #36 John Gibson
#39 Cam Talbot
