It’s a four-point game in the tank wars as the Maple Leafs host the 31st-place Rangers at Scotiabank Arena (7:30 p.m. EST, Sportsnet).
Game Day Quotes
Craig Berube on the approach to this meeting between two non-playoff teams:
Again, we are trying to approach every game with the competitiveness we need. I love the young guys who are up here playing right now. They bring the juice every night as they try to prove themselves. It’s good. Again, we have to approach this game the exact same way.
Berube on how motivating the mentors’ trip has been for the players:
It helps, for sure. They want to play well in front of the people they bring, right? It is like anybody. When your mom or dad comes to watch you play in the NHL, you’ll try to perform your best in front of them. That is human nature.
Berube on the team’s strong goaltending of late:
They have been playing well. Stolie made some very important saves on the PK last night. And Wollsy has done his job when he’s been in there. The goaltending has been pretty solid.
Berube on the team’s vibe coming off a win in Boston:
I know we are not in the best place right now, but it is great to win games. Going into a big rivalry game like that and winning the way we did in Boston… The game meant a lot to Boston. It meant a lot ot us, too, and we played well.
Rangers head coach Mike Sullivan on his team’s recent struggles:
It’s disappointing because I feel like we aren’t controlling what we can to set ourselves up for success.
I don’t think we are playing the game with enough pace in order to give ourselves a chance to win. A lot of it is along the lines of knowing what you’re going to do with the puck before you get it, working to get available for your teammates so we can change the point of attack and advance the puck up the ice.
When we’ve had opportunities to get zone time, we struggle to get pucks through from the blue line. I talked about creating off the shot more. In our last five, we’re averaging 46.6 shot attempts, and our shots are in the mid 20s. That is just not enough to generate offense and get consistent offense.
We have to simplify the game, but some of it is just execution. You have to get shots through. You have to get it by the shin pads. You have to get your eyes up. We’re having a hard time getting shots through, and they’re play killers. That makes it tough.
We are not creating off the shot nearly enough. Some of it is execution, and some of it is just our intentions as far as being in the right mindset, anticipating, and playing with some pace and quickness so we can get to pucks quicker, be stiffer in the puck battles, and bring numbers. That just hasn’t been the case.
Lately, we’re having a hard time getting pucks stopped defensively. There is an element of physicality with that. There is also some defensive anticipation where we can get there, close on people, and limit time and space so we get an opportunity to get pucks stopped. Recently, teams are playing out of the corners on us. We have to do a better job of it.
Maple Leafs (30-29-13) vs. Rangers (28-34-9): Head-to-Head Stats
via NaturalStatTrick.com & AdvancedHockeyStats.com
Toronto Maple Leafs Projected Lines
Forwards
#53 Easton Cowan – #91 John Tavares – #88 William Nylander
#23 Matthew Knies – #11 Max Domi – #89 Nick Robertson
#63 Matias Maccelli – #29 Bo Groulx – #81 Dakota Joshua
#18 Steven Lorentz – #26 Jacob Quillan – #19 Calle Jarnkrok
Defensemen
#22 Jake McCabe – #95 Oliver Ekman-Larsson
#44 Morgan Rielly – #25 Brandon Carlo
#2 Simon Benoit – #28 Troy Stecher
Goaltenders
Starter: #60 Joseph Woll
#41 Anthony Stolarz
Extras: Philippe Myers, Michael Pezzetta
Injured: Auston Matthews (out for the season), Chris Tanev (LTIR)
New York Rangers Projected Lines
Forwards
#94 Gabriel Perreault – #93 Mika Zibanejad – #13 Alexis Lafreniere
#50 Will Cuylle – #16 Vincent Trocheck – #38 Adam Sykora
#24 Tye Kartye – #8 JT Miller – #43 Conor Sheary
#14 Taylor Raddysh – #22 Jonny Brodzinski – #49 Jaroslav Chmelar
Defensemen
#44 Vladislav Gavrikov – #23 Adam Fox
#4 Braden Schneider – #17 Will Borgen
#29 Matt Robertson – #6 Vincent Iorio
Goaltenders
Starter: #31 Igor Shesterkin
#33 Dylan Garand
Injured/Out: Urho Vaakanainen, Matt Rempe, Noah Laba
