Perhaps calling the Bruins past their prime is a bit much, but these are not the same Bruins who could be called upon to be a lock for a spot at the top of the division year after year.
These days the Bruins are not the best but far from the worst. You wouldn’t be surprised about them in the playoffs, or them out of the playoffs. With Bergeron, Marchand, Pastrnek, and Rask you won’t expect to see them at the bottom of the standings, and they’ll still be a team that remains competitive for a while. Tonight's game won’t be taken lightly by the Maple Leafs, hopefully.
Toronto Maple Leafs @ Boston Bruins
7:00PM - Toronto Dominion Garden, Boston, MA
TV: CBC, NHL Network
Radio: Sportnet 590 / TSN 1050
SBN Rivals: Stanley Cup of Chowdah
| Toronto Maple Leafs | Boston Bruins | |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 10-10-5 | 15-11-2 |
| Division | 8th | 3rd |
| Conference | 16th | 8th |
| Overall | 28th | 13th |
| Goals +/- | 74/82 = -6 | 68/66 = +2 |
| Top Scorer | Auston Matthews - 11 James van Riemsdyk - 11 |
David Pastrnak - 18 |
| Most Points | James van Riemsdyk - 20 | David Pastrnak - 24 Brad Marchand - 24 |
| Top Goalie | Frederik Andersen - .911 sv% | Tuuka Rask - .933sv% |
The Toronto Maple Leafs are growing every game, and I never expect to see them so low in the standings whenever I check them. I didn’t have high hopes for this year, aside from player growth and progressively better play month to month, and we’re seeing that.
Frederik Andersen isn’t the same player from October, he’s no longer a liability on the ice after recovering from his pre-season injury. The rookies are growing more and more and the vets are taking on their roles and playing much better than last year.
The last time these two teams met was the Maple Leafs home opener, airing in the US because of Auston Matthews. While the Matthews show didn’t come together as well as the NHL hoped, we saw Mitch Marners first NHL goal, and a young Leafs team show that they won’t be back up goalie fodder this season.
The Maple Leafs have lost three straight games, 3-0 to Calgary, 4-3 shootout loss to Vancouver, and a 3-2 almost comeback against Minnesota, and are looking to get back on track. Antoine Bibeau is now on the main roster, backing up Frederik Andersen after Jhonas Enroth was waived by the Leafs. Frankie Corrado and Josh Leivo are now a pressbox buddy short after Peter Holland was sent to Arizona.
Here are the possible line combos:
Leo Komarov - Nazem Kadri - William Nylander
James van Riemsdyk - Tyler Bozak - Mitchell Marner
Zach Hyman - Auston Matthews - Connor Brown
Matt Martin - Ben Smith - Nikita Soshnikov
Morgan Rielly Nikita Zaitsev
Jake Gardiner Connor Carrick
Matt Hunwick Roman Polak
Frederik Andersen
Antoine Bibeau
And the Bruins:
Brad Marchand - Patrice Bergeron - David Pastrnak
Danton Heinen - David Krejci - David Backes
Ryan Spooner - Riley Nash - Austin Czarnik
Tim Schaller - Dominic Moore - Noel Acciari
Zdeno Chara - Brandon Carlo
Torey Krug - Adam McQuaid
Kevan Miller - Colin Miller
Tuuka Rask
Anton Khudobin
Ex-Leaf alerts: Dominic Moore, and John-Michael Liles (injured)
Hopefully we get our second win against the Bruins tonight. For a final thought we check in with lil’ seldo:
“The Bruins suck. Also remember when Chicago scored on them in like two seconds to win the Stanley Cup?”
LOL yes I do.
