The Maple Leafs are hoping to stay perfect to start the season as they visit a Red Wings team seeking a bounce-back effort after an ugly season-opening loss to the Canadiens (7:00 p.m., Sportsnet).
Game Day Quotes
Craig Berube on expecting a big push from the Red Wings after their blowout loss in their home opener:
The players have to be prepared for it. They’re going to make a big push and be a lot better tonight. I expect that. We expect that.
We have to be ready from the drop of the puck and get to our game as quickly as possible.
We have to be ready to manage the puck better than we did last game. They are going to be on us quickly, so we have to make quick decisions. We have to be getting pucks behind them and going to work.
This is a highly skilled team over there that can make plays. We have to make them play in their own end as much as possible, make sure we are above them all night, and stay disciplined. They have a good power play.
Berube on the decision not to change the lineup from Wednesday:
The win, and I just didn’t feel there was any need to make a change to the lineup.
Berube on Dakota Joshua’s first game and the expectations for him going forward:
He’ll be better. He was like a lot of our guys — a little slow with the puck.
Better decisions, quicker decisions, and get to his game — a heavy forecheck, down-low game that is physical. Create havoc and get to the net. He is one of our guys on the kill.
That is what we expect from him. Be reliable defensively. That is really his game.
Red Wings head coach Todd McLellan on the message to his team after a tough season-opening 5-1 loss vs. Montreal:
Bounce back. We can address the problems and issues that we had, and we certainly did, but it is the bounce back and the mentality of our team that has to be resilient.
We are getting tested early in the year, right off the bat. No one chose it, but we have fallen into it already. Can we be resilient? Can we bounce back? Can we fix things and still be an aggressive hockey club, without backing off? That will be really important.
McLellan on the keys to preventing so many odd-man rushes against:
It is a five-man awareness situation, for lack of a better word. When one thing happens, there are four other players who have to react a certain way.
We chose to be slow at it. We chose not to do it. We chose to cheat the other night. As a result, it cost us a game. We didn’t give up a lot in the defensive zone. They weren’t swarming around or doing anything like that. They were all long opportunities — distant opportunities from one end to another. They can be fixed.
2024-25 Head-to-Head Stats: Maple Leafs (51-26-4) vs. Red Wings (39-25-8)
In the 2024-25 regular season statistics, Toronto held 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 – #63 Matias Maccelli
#74 Bobby McMann – #91 John Tavares – #88 William Nylander
#81 Dakota Joshua – #11 Max Domi – #89 Nick Robertson
#18 Steven Lorentz – #55 Nicolas Roy – #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: #41 Anthony Stolarz
#30 Cayden Primeau
Extras: Philippe Myers, Sammy Blais, Easton Cowan
Injured: Scott Laughton (week-to-week, LBI)
Out: Joseph Woll (personal)
Detroit Red Wings Projected Lines
Forwards
#58 Emmitt Finnie – #71 Dylan Larkin – #23 Lucas Raymond
#93 Alex Debrincat – #92 Marco Kasper – #88 Patrick Kane
#18 Andrew Copp – #37 JT Compher – #28 Michael Brandsegg-Nygard
#48 Jonatan Berggren – #27 Michael Rasmussen – #22 Mason Appleton
Defensemen
#8 Ben Chiarot – #53 Moritz Seider
#77 Simon Edvinsson – #44 Axel Sandin-Pellikka
#20 Albert Johansson – #25 Jacob Bernard-Docker
Goaltenders
Starter: #39 Cam Talbot
#36 John Gibson
