Dallas Stars @ Toronto Maple Leafs
07:00 PM at Scotiabank Arena
Watch on: TSN4, Victory+

The Leafs last game was at home on January 11 against the Vancouver Canucks, which Toronto lost by a score of 3-0 in regulation. The Leafs have a record of 27-15-2 for a 0.636 Points %.

The Dallas Stars last played away on January 12 against the Ottawa Senators. The Stars lost by a score of 3-2 in regulation, and their current league record is 27-14-1 for a 0.655 Points %.

Them

The last time these teams played each other they were very close in Points % and they still are, with Dallas sixth in the NHL and the Leafs eighth.

Dallas is like the Leafs in a lot of ways: they have very good goaltending and a power play that looks like it should be good, but usually doesn't score. There's one big difference – the Stars are very good at controlling possession and getting good enough quality in their shots for and against.

Casey DeSmith played the last game, so Jake Oettinger is due up. Mason Marchment is out with an injury.

Lines

Last Game (2025-01-12) via Daily Faceoff and subject to change.

Jason Robertson - Roope Hintz - Evgenii Dadonov
Jamie Benn - Matt Duchene - Wyatt Johnston
Sam Steel - Mavrik Bourque - Logan Stankoven
Oskar Back - Colin Blackwell - Matej Blumel

Miro Heiskanen - Ilya Lyubushkin
Esa Lindell - Nils Lundkvist
Thomas Harley - Matt Dumba

Casey DeSmith
Jake Oettinger - likely starter

Us

I can't claim to be any expert on the Leafs recent play, but on paper they're playing a losing brand of hockey at five-on-five and routinely allowing more Expected Goals than they generate for. Against Carolina, the goalie cleaned up the mess and got them to over 50% in Goals For, but they couldn't turn that into a win with the special teams situation.

Against Vancouver, they just played a low event game, trusted to luck that a couple would go in, but had none.

Only an optional skate today.

Everyone else who is injured is at least skating or almost ready to start skating. Don't expect Jake McCabe tonight.

Lines

Mark Masters via Daily Faceoff from yesterday's practice.

Steven Lorentz - Auston Matthews - Mitch Marner
Matthew Knies - John Tavares - William Nylander
Bobby McMann - Max Domi - Nicholas Robertson
Connor Dewar - David Kampf - Ryan Reaves

Morgan Rielly - Philippe Myers
Oliver Ekman-Larsson - Chris Tanev
Simon Benoit - Conor Timmins

Joe Woll - starter
Dennis Hildeby

The Game

Try a winning brand of hockey at five-on-five is my advice.