The season from hell continues for the Maple Leafs, who are now without their captain as they wrap up the season series against the Buffalo Sabres (7:00 p.m. EST, Sportsnet/CBC).
Game Day Quotes
Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff on what kind of crowd he is expecting in Buffalo tonight, with the Leafs‘ current struggles:
I was hoping the Toronto fans would sell their tickets back to Buffalo fans.
Ruff on the importance of a team standing up for one another:
We learned the hard lesson last year. We’ve talked about it as a group. When anything occurs now, it is all in. Really, since our incident last year and all the way through this year, regardless of how it looked, maybe we over-emphasize it. We’re in there for each other.
Every team is like that. I know what you are referencing (with Auston Matthews), and of course, we dealt with something similar. You learn from it, you move on, you grow as a team, and you talk about how it starts with me. You talk about what true teammates are like and what they will do for each other.
Ruff on the desperation he is expecting from the Leafs coming off the Matthews injury:
Automatically, you look at a group that probably will be as hungry as they possibly can be after what happened. We will be ready for that, for sure.
Ruff on whether the league does enough to protect its star players:
I’ll leave that up to the player safety department. I’ve had my fair share of opinions on it over the years.
Michael Pezzetta on the Radko Gudas hit on Matthews:
That was a dirty play, going after the captain like that. It’s not a good feeling as a player.
I try not to play the game like that.
Jake McCabe on Gudas’ five-game suspension:
You lose a guy for the rest of the year — your leader — and the guy gets five games. I don’t know. It’s not the first time he’s done it. Frustrating.
I can sit here and say whatever, but it is not going to change it. I am not George, sitting in the chair, making the phone call, and making the decisions. It doesn’t matter what the hell I say.
Knies on the Gudas suspension:
I think the league could’ve done a little bit more, seeing as our best player and captain won’t be with us for the rest of the year. That decision is out of my control. I would’ve loved to have seen a little bit more.
Tavares on the suspension length for Gudas:
It was a dirty play that resulted in a significant injury to our captain… I think it easily could’ve been (longer). It is still substantial. I believe Auston has been ruled out for quite a while — it’s more than five games that he’ll be missing. It easily could’ve been longer. You can’t say five games is nothing, but it could’ve been longer.
Craig Berube on the vibe around the team after Matthews’ season-ending injury:
It is tough to lose a guy like that for the year. We are not happy about it. Nobody is happy about it. But we have to move on and get ready to play. There is nothing we can do about it now. We have to get ready to play tonight.
Berube on starting Joseph Woll for a third consecutive game:
Looking at his game, he has been sharp. I’ve liked his game. I just wanted to see him play some games in a row and see where he is at. It’s a good time to do that. We have back-to-back games, so Stolarz will be in there tomorrow.
Maple Leafs (28-27-11) vs. Sabres (40-20-6): Head-to-Head Stats
via NaturalStatTrick.com & AdvancedHockeyStats.com
Toronto Maple Leafs Projected Lines
Forwards
#63 Matias Maccelli – #91 John Tavares– #88 William Nylander
#23 Matthew Knies – #11 Max Domi – #53 Easton Cowan
#81 Dakota Joshua – #29 Bo Groulx – #89 Nick Robertson
#61 Michael Pezzetta – #26 Jacob Quillan – #19 Calle Jarnkrok
Defensemen
#44 Morgan Rielly – #25 Brandon Carlo
#22 Jake McCabe – #95 Oliver Ekman-Larsson
#2 Simon Benoit – #51 Philippe Myers
Goaltenders
Starter: #60 Joseph Woll
#41 Anthony Stolarz
Extras: Steven Lorentz, Troy Stecher
Injured: Auston Matthews, Chris Tanev (LTIR)
Buffalo Sabres Projected Lines
Forwards
#6 Zach Benson – #72 Tage Thompson – #86 Noah Ostlund
#91 Josh Doan – #9 Josh Norris – #89 Alex Tuch
#17 Jason Zucker – #71 Ryan McLeod – #22 Jack Quinn
#19 Petyon Krebs – #10 Sam Carrick – #29 Beck Malenstyn
Defensemen
#4 Bowen Byram – #26 Rasmus Dahlin
#25 Owen Power – #8 Michael Kesselring
#64 Logan Stanley – #5 Luke Schenn
Goaltenders
Starter: #34 Alex Lyon
#1 Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen
Injured: Mattias Samulesson, Jordan Greenway, Tanner Pearson, Jiri Kulich, Justin Danforth, Conor Timmins
