Toronto Maple Leafs @ Pittsburgh Penguins: Game #6
7:00pm at PPG Paints Arena
TV/Streaming: CBC, NHL Network, Sportsnet NOW
Opponent’s Site: Pensburgh

The Toronto Maple Leafs are entering the United States for the first time in two seasons as they traveled to Pittsburgh following their 5-3 loss to the San Jose Sharks at home. New teams have been a pleasant change for us as fans, though the Leafs currently haven’t won a game against an American team this year. That’s not a failure for nationalism or anything, just a failure of the Leafs to put 60 minutes together.

Last night, Sheldon Keefe made some big changes to the forward lines when the team was desperate for offense. After the game, Keefe made it clear that it wasn’t just Nick Ritchie’s fault for getting benched from the first line, but scorn should also be in the direction of Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner for their poor play in the first half of the game — seriously, how do you sink against the Sharks? By the third period, Matthews was with William Nylander and sometimes Marner, and Ritchie was on the fourth line.

Because the Leafs didn’t practice this morning and only the scratches skated, we don’t know if the drastic changes are going to be permanent or if it was just a one-off.

One thing we do know is that Travis Dermott is going to sit in favour of Timothy Liljegren on the second half of a back to back.

The first period Leafs from last night:

Nick Ritchie - Auston Matthews - Mitchell Marner
Michael Bunting - John Tavares - William Nylander
Alex Kerfoot - David Kämpf - Ondřej Kaše
Wayne Simmonds - Pierre Engvall - Jason Spezza

The third period Leafs from last night:

William Nylander - Auston Matthews - Mitchell Marner
Michael Bunting - John Tavares - Jason Spezza
Alex Kerfoot - David Kämpf - Ondřej Kaše
Nick Ritchie - Pierre Engvall - Wayne Simmonds

The Defense

Morgan Rielly - TJ Brodie
Jake Muzzin - Justin Holl
Rasmus Sandin - Timothy Liljegren

The Goalies

Jack Campbell - starter
Michael Hutchinson

The Penguins

The Penguins are without Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, but they’re also going to be without Kris Letang after he was forced in COVID protocol after a positive result.

The lines tonight are from yesterday’s skate. The pairings are going to be a little different but the forward lines are confirmed.

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