Coming off of five losses in their last six games, the Maple Leafs are looking to turn it around starting tonight against the Calgary Flames (7:30 p.m. EST, Amazon Prime).
Game Day Quotes
Craig Berube on the challenge presented by the Flames:
They work, and they are competitive. It is a hard-working team over there. Their goaltending has been really, really good. Wolf has played really well for them this year. We are going to get a hard game. That is the way I look at it. It is going to be a battle.
Flames head coach Ryan Huska on the challenge presented by the Maple Leafs:
Both teams are going to play urgently — that is the word I would use. We are expecting their best tonight. I think you always have to be prepared for that when you come into this building.
There is a lot of high-end skill. The team plays well defensively. There is a lot that makes this team a difficult one to play against.
We have to make sure we are at our best. When we do play our game and are focused on skating and not giving a lot of room to our opponent, that is when we are at our best. That is what we have to do tonight.
Huska on his team’s 6-3 loss to the Leafs in early February:
The first 30 minutes were our team, and then we took some dumb penalties. We started forcing offense that night, and we allowed the game to get away from us in the second half. There were some odd-man rushes they capitalized, and we sat in the box at inopportune times. They scored on their power play.
To me, that is what it was. At five-on-five, for 30 minutes, we were very good until we let it slide by playing undisciplined.
Huska on Nazem Kadri’s excitement for a matchup in Toronto:
When you look at Naz’s game for us, he has been the same game-to-game. You don’t see a lot of change in Naz’s game.
It is not just Naz when he comes to Toronto. Everybody from this area enjoys playing here. There is something a little special in the air. They have a lot of family and friends in the building.
Naz is most definitely one of those guys who is excited to be playing tonight.
Berube on the team’s mentality coming off of a tough stretch:
This morning, we went over a few things about where we are at as a team and talked about some urgency that we need a little bit more of throughout the game — not just when it is desperation time. In the last game, we talked about how Ottawa was a little bit more hungry than us early on in that game. We have to get that battle level and urgency level up.
The guys understand that, and they are not very happy right now, which is a good thing. That is really the message. We are right there. We have two games in hand here. We have to take care of business, starting with tonight’s game and focusing on that. We’ll go from there.
Berube on the role of the coaching staff in instilling urgency into the team:
We are definitely part of it, myself included. We talk about it a lot. We talk about these teams that are fighting for playoffs and the desperation that they have. It is not like it is not talked about.
Berube on his lineup tweaks and returning to his familiar top line:
It’s just (about) the success that we’ve had and the chemistry they’ve had. I wanted to create a line — with Laughton, Lorentz, and Jarny — that is more of an identity line and a checking line.
Berube on the newly-formed Lorentz-Laughton-Jarnkrok line:
His best game was the last game. He was way more involved, playing his type of hockey, and it was one of the thoughts that went into putting this line together. It is probably a good line for him — playing that good, hard hockey that is physical with those two guys. We will see where it goes.
Head-to-Head Stats: Maple Leafs (39-24-3) vs. Flames (30-24-11)
In the 2024-25 regular season statistics, Toronto holds the advantage in four out of five offensive categories and three out of five defensive categories.
Toronto Maple Leafs Projected Lines
Forwards
#23 Matthew Knies — #34 Auston Matthews — #16 Mitch Marner
#29 Pontus Holmberg — #91 John Tavares — #88 William Nylander
#74 Bobby McMann — #11 Max Domi — #89 Nick Robertson
#18 Steven Lorentz — #24 Scott Laughton —#19 Calle Jarnkrok
Defensemen
#22 Jake McCabe — #8 Chris Tanev
#44 Morgan Rielly — #25 Brandon Carlo
#2 Simon Benoit — #95 Oliver Ekman-Larsson
Goaltenders
Starter: #60 Joseph Woll
#41 Anthony Stolarz
Extras: David Kampf, Philippe Myers
Injured (LTIR): Jani Hakanpää, Max Pacioretty
Calgary Flames Projected Lines
Forwards
#10 Jonathan Huberdeau — #91 Nazem Kadri — #76 Martin Pospisil
#20 Blake Coleman — #16 Morgan Frost — #27 Matt Coronato
#86 Joel Farabee — #17 Yegor Sharangovich — #43 Adam Klapka
#70 Ryan Lomberg — #21 Kevin Rooney — #15 Dryden Hunt
Defensemen
#44 Joel Hanley — #52 MacKenzie Weegar
#7 Kevin Bahl — #4 Rasmus Andersson
#24 Jake Bean — #62 Daniil Miromanov
Goaltenders
Starter: #32 Dustin Wolf
#80 Dan Vladar
Injured: Anthony Mantha, Connor Zary, Kevin Bahl, Mikael Backlund
