The Maple Leafs are hoping to string two wins together for the first time since January 12 when they visit the Saddledome in Calgary in the penultimate game before the Olympic break (10:00 p.m. EST, TSN4/SN West)
Game Day Quotes
Nazem Kadri on the split-crowd atmosphere in the Saddledome tonight:
I am assuming there are going to be some different coloured jerseys, but it is nothing we haven’t seen before. Leafs Nation is pretty good at that.
There is not much you can do, but we’ll try to create a spark that way.
Kadri on whether he still enjoys the chance to play against the Leafs:
Always. It is always fun to compete against your friends and hopefully get some bragging rights after this one.
Kadri on the scrutiny Morgan Rielly is facing in Toronto this season, and the advice he would give Rielly for dealing with the noise:
I think he is a great leader, a great friend, an awesome guy, and fun to be around. He is good in the room. He is a heck of a defenseman, too, and has been that way his whole career in Toronto. He is up there with the best in the franchise. He is a guy I respect.
He has been over there for a long time. I don’t think I could give any advice. Hey, it seems there (in Toronto) — and in a lot of Canadian markets, but especially there — things can fluctuate a lot from week to week. I am sure he is going to be able to find his game. He is a great player. I know he will.
Kadri on the players he stays in touch with on the Leafs:
Most of the guys — Willy, JT, Mats, Mo. All of the guys who were there when I was there. We’re still great friends. We hang out in the summer and play some golf.
I would like to get the upper hand tonight, for sure.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson on the loss of Rielly and adjusting to the rejigged defense pairs:
Losing Mo is a big loss for us. He is a big part of this team and organization. We need everybody to step up and fill those big minutes and that role.
The one thing about our D core is that we’ve all played with everyone on the backend. It is game-to-game a little bit. That makes it easier to switch up the D pairs. Everyone is so used to playing with everyone else on the backend.
Other than missing Mo, it is not a big deal.
OEL on the presence of so many Leafs fans in the building on the Western Canada road trip:
It is awesome. The fans were awesome in Vancouver. Anywhere we go, there is a lot of blue in the stands. It is awesome.
We all appreciate the support. That is why it is so special to play in this market.
Craig Berube on the areas to build on after the win in Vancouver:
Just the pace we played the game with in all three zones. Looking at the tape, we did it pretty much all game, but the third period was the best. We were killing plays in the defensive zone, getting up the ice quickly from that, getting through the neutral zone, and playing with pace and quickness. Our forecheck was extremely effective because we played with pace and got on top of them. We had tons of zone time in the offensive zone. The pace, for me, is the key to how we played.
John Tavares on the positives to build on from the win over the Canucks:
We had a lot of pace, and we just stayed aggressive. We were really aggressive and weren’t overly risky. We just played high-percentage hockey, and the pace that we played at allowed that aggressiveness to kind of wear them down.
Berube on the decision to start Joseph Woll tonight in Calgary, and Anthony Stolarz tomorrow in Edmonton:
Coming off the last game, I thought Joseph was solid in the game. I know he didn’t have a ton of work, but I just liked the way he played the game. He made some big saves, obviously, down the stretch and into OT. I just like putting him back in there. He has a little momentum, and I think he is feeling good about his game.
Berube on the challenge presented by the Flames:
They work extremely hard. They’re a good rush team. They get up the ice really well with four guys all the time in the play. You are definitely going to get a team that will compete and work tonight. They’ve had that M.O. for a while.
Flames head coach Ryan Huska on the distraction of the trade deadline for a team in a “selling” position:
We chat with our players individually if we think someone might be affected by something, but a lot of our guys have gone through it in prior years. It is not anything that is new for us. If we sense something, we deal with it, but I don’t sense it right now, to be quite honest with you.
Maple Leafs (25-21-9) vs. Flames (22-26-6): 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 – #88 William Nylander
#23 Matthew Knies – #55 Nic Roy – #89 Nick Robertson
#18 Steven Lorentz – #24 Scott Laughton – #19 Calle Jarnkrok
Defensemen
#22 Jake McCabe – #25 Brandon Carlo
#95 Oliver Ekman-Larsson – #28 Troy Stecher
#2 Simon Benoit – #51 Philippe Myers
Goaltenders
Starter: #60 Joseph Woll
#41 Anthony Stolarz
Extras: Easton Cowan, Marshall Rifai
Injured: Morgan Rielly (day-to-day), Chris Tanev (LTIR), Dakota Joshua (LTIR)
Calgary Flames Projected Lines
Forwards
#17 Yegor Sharangovich – #11 Mikael Backlund – #27 Matt Coronato
#47 Connor Zary – #91 Nazem Kadri – #86 Joel Farabee
#10 Jonathan Huberdeau – #16 Morgan Frost – #92 Matvei Gridin
#70 Ryan Lomberg – #76 Martin Pospisil – #43 Adam Kalpka
Defensemen
#37 Yan Kuznetsov – #52 Mackenzie Weegar
#7 Kevin Bahl – #28 Zach Whitecloud
#44 Joel Hanley – #89 Zayne Parekh
Goaltenders
Starter: #32 Dustin Wolf
#1 Devin Cooley
Injured/Out: Blake Coleman, John Beecher, Jake Bean, Samuel Honzek
