Montreal Canadiens at Toronto Maple Leafs: Game 5 of the preseason
Time: 7:30 pm Eastern Time
Location: Ricoh Coliseum
Broadcast/Streaming: TSN2/TSN4
Opponent SBNation Site: Habs Eyes On The Prize (this name gets dumber whenever I read it)
We’re nearing the business end of the preseason now, and the competition for spots is intensifying. Or spot, as I should say. If you’re like me, and don’t believe that Miro Aaltonen has a legitimate shot at dethroning Dominic Moore as the 4C, the only regular playing spot up for grabs is the 3LD, which is between Martin Marincin, Calle Rosen, Andreas Borgman, and Travis Dermott. Marincin has the longest track record, but has had a poor preseason, looking awkward and ungainly, even by his standards. Meanwhile the other three have all been very strong, and it wouldn’t surprise me to see any of them chosen. We’ll see a couple of them in action tonight, as the Leafs take on the Habs in another set of home-and-home preseason games.
Toronto Maple Leafs
Forward Lines
Zach Hyman - Auston Matthews - William Nylander
James van Riemsdyk - Tyler Bozak - Mitchell Marner
Patrick Marleau - Nazem Kadri - Leo Komarov
Matt Martin - Miro Aaltonen - Connor Brown
Defence Pairings
Morgan Rielly - Ron Hainsey
Jake Gardiner - Nikita Zaitsev
Calle Rosen - Connor Carrick
Goaltenders
Frederik Andersen
Kasimir Kaskisuo
Montreal Canadiens
Forward Lines
Max Pacioretty - Jonathan Drouin - Brendan Gallagher
Charles Hudon - Tomas Plekanec - Artturi Lehkonen
Alex Galchenyuk - Phillip Danault - Ales Hemsky
Paul Byron - Torrey Mitchell - Andrew Shaw
Defence Pairings
Victor Mete - Shea Weber
Karl Alzner - Jeff Petry
Jordie Benn - Mark Streit
Goaltenders
Carey Price
Al Montoya
So, for all that I said about Aaltonen vs Moore not being real.... that is Miro Aaltonen playing in Moore’s 4C spot. So maybe it’s more of a thing than I’m giving it credit for. This is by far the Leafs most complete roster of the preseason, and is pretty close to what we’ll see when the games count for real.
Calle Rosen is the man chosen to be the 3 LD tonight, and that may suggest that Marincin has lost his inside track on the job to the smooth Swede. There’s still a few more preseason games to go, but given the relative strength of the rest of the lineup, it is notable that Babcock has chosen to go with Rosen - he has oodles of skill, but is a bit of a lightweight compared to a guy like Borgman.