A small fortune is on the board in both dressing rooms for the Marchenko vs. Knies Bowl tonight in Columbus (7:00 p.m. EST, Sportsnet).
Game Day Quotes
Jim Hiller on the emotions surrounding Marchenko and Knies facing their former teams:
There’ll be some. You can’t get around it. We’ve just got to try to manage it the best way.
Kniesy was a great Leaf. He has lots of good friends in there, lots of respect for him. There’ll be some of that.
Of course, Kirill had a great time while he was here, and we’re happy he’s ours. I’m sure Columbus is happy they’ve got Knies.
Hiller on Marchenko’s recent play:
He had the big game against Buffalo, right? That was terrific. The last two games, he’s had some really good chances that haven’t fallen for him. .
He’s a goal scorer. When they start going in consistently, then he’ll probably find his way a little better.
Hiller on Marchenko handling the atmosphere in Columbus:
He’s a Maple Leaf now, and we’ve got him. However it goes, he’s with us, and we have his back. He’s just got to go out and play the best he can.
Hiller on the possibility of playing McKenna with Matthews:
I have tried him with Auston from time to time. That’s always there. It’s always an option for us.
I’m sure there’ll be a day in his future that he starts with Auston someday, which is probably what you’re looking for. It just won’t be tonight.
Hiller on whether playing away from Matthews gives Marchenko more freedom to drive play:
There could be. When you play with a guy like Auston, although Auston doesn’t demand it, there’s a little pressure to get him the puck. That’s just human nature. I think we’d all feel that way a little bit.
Sometimes, you get relieved of that pressure, and you can go again. There’ll be times when Kirill goes back with Auston. I’m sure of that. But for now, we like what it looks like.
Hiller on Cowan’s development since last season:
I did watch tape. A lot of people have said he’s just physically matured, I think is one, and probably emotionally, too.
These are just young guys. To play in the NHL last year like he did and contribute is pretty amazing. It’s hard to do. Sometimes, we take that for granted, just how difficult that is at a young age.
We expect people to mature as they go. From what I’ve understood, he’s taken a massive step that way.
He wants to be a hockey player. Like I said, I’ve had a lot of conversations with him, and he’s stuck to what he said. He’s earned a lot of trust from the coaches.
Hiller on Marshall Rifai replacing Blankenburg in the lineup:
Rif will jump in for Blanky. We’ve been meaning to get him in. It’s been a while. We called him up, and we want to get him in there and see what he can do.
Hiller on what he wants to see from Rifai after his first game:
He was fine that game. He might play a few more minutes. We had seven that night, six tonight. Let’s just see.
Again, another young guy who paid his dues in the minors, won a championship. We have to give these guys some opportunity.
Blue Jackets head coach Rick Bowness on the challenge posed by Matthews and the Leafs’ offense:
I haven’t watched him a lot until I watched last night. Their power play came through last night. The kid scored a nice power-play goal. Matthews had a nice power-play goal.
I was telling Judy—poor Judy, she has to watch all these games with me—I said, “Judy, this game should be 4-1, 5-1 for Toronto right now,” after the second.
Some of those chances don’t show up on the score. They hit the crossbar. They flipped it over the net. They had all kinds of Grade-A’s in front of their net.
Very impressed with their offense. Regardless, they didn’t get an even-strength goal until the empty-netter. Don’t be fooled by that. I thought they created an awful lot of offense in the zone.
We’re going to have to really tighten up around our net front and spend as little time in our zone as possible. They’ve got a lot of highly skilled players, and it starts with Matthews, for sure. But Nylander, man, he’s playing great. He is flying out there. Of course, Marshy, we know what he’s capable of doing as well.
It’s going to be up to us to shut those guys down as much as we can. But if you let them spend time in our zone, they’re going to make those plays, and then we’re going to need Jet to come up big.
Bowness on managing the emotions of former teammates facing one another:
As coaches, we keep our focus on the process. There’s a lot of noise. We get that. If you start worrying about that, that’s a distraction.
We’re all well aware of it. We deal with it. Both teams are going to deal with it, but we’re trying to keep our guys dialed in on what we have to do to win the hockey game. The rest of that stuff will take care of itself.
I’m also hoping the loss in Minnesota keeps us sharp as well. We played an outstanding game against the Rangers, just not as sharp against Minnesota. I think that’s more important to us. That should bring our focus, regardless of who we play tonight. Knies and Marshy, we get that.
Bowness on the next level of Matthew Knies’ game:
It’s a good question. I think there’s a lot more there, for sure. We’re still feeling him out a little bit.
I know he killed penalties. I talked to Chief about him, and Chief said he used him a lot as a penalty killer. I think we could get him a little bit more involved with that, which would give him a few more minutes.
But until he gets completely comfortable—we’re doing a couple of things differently than Toronto did, and sometimes I see him lapsing into that. “Okay, that’s not how we do it here.” We have to help him. That’s our job as coaches, to help him through that. Then we’ll have a better feel.
Listen, I’ve always been a fan of his, so I think there’s more to the upside. I do.
Bowness on the chemistry between Knies, Fantilli, and Johnson:
They’re getting chances. I think they’re on the cusp of going on a little bit of a run here.
If they weren’t getting those chances, you’re saying, “Okay, where’s the chemistry?” But we are seeing it. We are seeing them read off each other. They had some good looks the other night that hit a stick, so they don’t end up as a quality chance. But in our books, we’re more interested in: Are they reading off each other? Are they making plays?
The chemistry is there, and it’s going to come. Sometimes, you make good plays, and it doesn’t actually end up in a chance for, but you can see what the thought process was, what the intent was. We’re liking what we’re seeing.
Bowness on the anticipated atmosphere in Columbus:
Listen, I love it here. Great fan base, great atmosphere here. The cannon wakes everybody up, right? Start the game, here we go, boom.
It’s always a great atmosphere here, and that’ll be a little bit more tonight, probably.
Matthew Knies on his emotions ahead of facing the Leafs:
It’s fun. It’s hard to take it like every other game, but that’s the mindset you have to have, just to stay focused. Focus on the guys in my locker room, and that’s about it.
It’s a little different. I’ve never experienced something like this, just looking across and seeing a lot of familiar faces.
A lot of guys will tell you there are really no friends on the ice until after. Hopefully, I’ll get to chat and say hi to some of the guys and wish them well.
I didn’t get to talk to a lot of the guys with how abruptly everything happened. I’m excited to see those guys I didn’t get to call or talk to and just wish them well.
Knies on whether being traded provides extra motivation to beat Toronto:
There’s motivation to win every game. Every game matters right now. We’re trying to get back in the win column, and that’s really it.
It’d be good to beat these guys, but again, take it like every other game.
Knies on how his time with the Leafs ended:
I wish I could’ve experienced my time there a little bit longer, but it happens. Things like that happen.
I was excited to get an opportunity here. A lot of young guys to play with, a good core, one of the best defensemen in the league. It’s a fun place to be, a fun group of guys. I was pretty fortunate to get here.
We’re just going to try to get off on the right foot here. We’re not playing our best hockey right now, but I think it’ll show in the next few games here.
Knies on facing Auston Matthews for the first time:
It’s not going to be easy. It’ll be pretty interesting, playing alongside him for three years and now playing across from him. It’s different.
It’s going to be exciting. It’s going to be fun. I think he’ll say the same thing, in the sense that it’s not going to be easy against each other. We’ll see. I’ll let you know after the game how it goes.
Knies on whether this will be a career high for money on the board:
Most likely. These guys are pretty aggressive on there, so most likely.
Knies on his favourite memory of playing in Toronto:
Probably when I first came up, JT’s overtime winner against Tampa. That was probably the most exciting thing.
Just being a part of that for the first time, that was so crazy for me. That playoff run was so cool. That was probably number one.
Knies on his message to Leafs fans:
A lot of love. Obviously, a crazy big fan base. It’s a big hockey market, and everyone wants to win there.
I wish them the best. I love those guys on that side. I care a lot about those guys.
But I’ve got to turn the page a little bit now and focus on the guys here, focus on winning, focus on separating myself from them.
Maple Leafs vs. Blue Jackets: By the Numbers
Swipe the table to compare teams.| Category | Maple Leafs 2026–27 · 10 GP | Blue Jackets 2026–27 · 7 GP |
|---|---|---|
| Games played | 10 | 7 |
| Record | 4–4–2 [T-13th] | 3–4–0 [T-28th] |
| Points percentage | .500 [T-20th] | .429 [26th] |
| Goals for | 32 [T-9th] | 17 [T-29th] |
| Goals against | 32 [26th] | 23 [T-7th] |
| Goals for / game | 3.20 [T-11th] | 2.43 [26th] |
| Goals against / game | 3.20 [19th] | 3.29 [21st] |
| Home record | 3–3–1 [T-20th] | 3–2–0 [T-15th] |
| Away record | 1–1–1 [T-13th] | 0–2–0 [T-31st] |
| 5v5 shot attempts % | 47.2% [24th] | 47.4% [23rd] |
| 5v5 goals for % | 40.9% [25th] | 52.2% [15th] |
| 5v5 PDO | 97.0 [24th] | 101.5 [10th] |
| Power play | 28.6% [5th] | 11.8% [30th] |
| Penalty kill | 96.9% [1st] | 68.0% [29th] |
| Head-to-head (2025–26) | 1–1–1 | 2–0–1 |
| Leading scorers · Goals–Assists–Points | ||
| Scorer #1 | Auston Matthews7–9–16 | Charlie Coyle0–6–6 |
| Scorer #2 | William Nylander5–8–13 | Zach Werenski0–6–6 |
| Scorer #3 | Kirill Marchenko4–6–10 | Kent Johnson4–1–5 |
| Scorer #4 | Easton Cowan3–4–7 | Cole Sillinger3–2–5 |
| Scorer #5 | John Tavares2–5–7 | Matthew Knies2–2–4 |
Maple Leafs Projected Lines
Select a player name to view their card (must be on active NHL roster).
Forwards
| Line | Left Wing | Centre | Right Wing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 53Easton Cowan | 34Auston Matthews | 96Jack Roslovic |
| 2 | 86Kirill Marchenko | 20Nick Paul | 88William Nylander |
| 3 | 92Gavin McKenna | 15Colton Sissons | 71Vinni Lettieri |
| 4 | 24Brandon Duhaime | 73Teddy Blueger | 19Zack MacEwen |
| Scratch | 29Bo Groulx |
Defense
| Pair | Left Defense | Right Defense |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 22Jake McCabe | 43Darren Raddysh |
| 2 | 44Morgan Rielly | 28Troy Stecher |
| 3 | 83Marshall Rifai | 95Oliver Ekman-Larsson |
| Scratch | 3Nick Blankenburg |
Goaltenders
| 41Anthony Stolarz | Starter |
| 70Artur Akhtyamov | Backup |
Injuries Or Other Absences
| Player | Status |
|---|---|
| 91John Tavares | Week-to-week injury |
| 8Chris Tanev | Week-to-week injury |
| 11Max Domi | Long-term Injury |
Blue Jackets Projected Lines
Forwards
| Line | Left Wing | Centre | Right Wing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 89Matthew KniesKnies | 19Adam FantilliFantilli | 91Kent JohnsonJohnson |
| 2 | 10Dmitri VoronkovVoronkov | 23Sean MonahanMonahan | 43Valeri NichushkinNichushkin |
| 3 | 4Cole SillingerSillinger | 3Charlie CoyleCoyle | 24Mathieu OlivierOlivier |
| 4 | 94Ryan LombergLomberg | 93Luca Del Bel BelluzDel Bel Belluz | 83Conor GarlandGarland |
Defense
| Pair | Left Defense | Right Defense |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8Zach WerenskiWerenski | 78Damon SeversonSeverson |
| 2 | 2Jake ChristiansenChristiansen | 5Denton MateychukMateychuk |
| 3 | 36Emil AndraeAndrae | 44Erik GudbransonGudbranson |
Goaltenders
| 73Jet GreavesGreaves | Starter |
| 33Cam TalbotTalbot | Backup |
