Maple Leafs @ Islanders
King's County, New York
6:00PM EST
Sportsnet (national game)
Lighthouse Hockey

Welcome back from the Christmas break. The Leafs kick off a home-and-home series with the Islanders tonight, playing in Brooklyn at 6PM today, then in Toronto at 7PM Tuesday. The Islanders are presently 19-11-5 this season.

The Islanders starting goalie Jaroslav Halak is out with an injury. Thomas Greiss will get the start tonight, backed up by ex-Leafs prospect Chris Gibson. Gibson wound up on Long Island in the trade for Michael Grabner. Greiss has played in 15 games so far this season and has a raw sv% of 0.933. According to War On Ice, in the 66 games in which Greiss has played since the start of the 2013 lockout season, his 'high danger' sv% is top 6 or better in the NHL; the actual rank depending on even strength vs. all situations, and where you cut off the minimum amount of time on ice in that period.

While Jaroslav Halak is out, Kyle Okposo is anticipated to return to the line-up tonight form a lower body injury.

There will be some interesting ex-team match-ups tonight, with a strong possibility of ex-Islander Grabner playing significant time on the ice against ex-Leafs Grabovski and Kulemin.

Leo Komarov will look to continue his hot streak tonight. At 15 goals this season already, he's not at only a personal best, but has more goals than any player on The Leafs, or The Islanders. Komarov has moved up to 29th overall and 8th in The Atlantic Division in the All-Star vote, passing Max Pacioretty. Don't forget to keep voting for Uncle Leo!

Maple Leafs' Lines

James van Riemsdyk - Tyler Bozak - P.A. Parenteau
Michael Grabner - Nazem Kadri - Leo Komarov
Daniel Winnik - Peter Holland - Joffrey Lupul
Shawn Matthias - Byron Froese - Brad Boyes

Jake Gardiner - Dion Phaneuf
Frank Corrado - Morgan Rielly
Martin Marincin - Roman Polak

Jonathan Bernier
James Reimer

Islanders' Projected Lines

Anders Lee - John Tavares - Kyle Okposo
Brock Nelson - Frans Nielsen - Josh Bailey
Nikolay Kulemin - Mikhail Grabovski - Ryan Strome
Matt Martin - Casey Ciziakis - Steve Bernier

Nick Leddy - Travis Hamonic
Calvin de Haan - Johnny Boychuk
Thomas Hickey - Brian Strait

Thomas Greiss
Christopher Gibson

Here's a quick look at how our favourite ex-Leafs are enjoying the move to Brooklyn.

Game Coverage