Vegas Golden Knights @ Toronto Maple Leafs
07:30 PM at Scotiabank Arena
Watch on: SN, TVAS, SCRIPPS

The Leafs last game was at home on November 16 against the Edmonton Oilers, which Toronto won by a score of 4-3 in overtime. The Leafs have a record of 11-6-2 for a 0.632 Points %.

The Vegas Golden Knights last played at home on November 17 against the Washington Capitals. The Golden Knights lost by a score of 5-2 in regulation, and their current league record is 11-5-2 for a 0.667 Points %.

Them

Vegas is doing better this year after a mediocre regular season last year and a first-round playoff exit. They've been in a lull for a couple of year, but this season, they are the early leaders in the Pacific division.

Their nearly no-name second defensive pair has been very, very good. Meanwhile, the team as a whole has underperformed at five-on-five pretty dramatically. Their offensive pace is mediocre, and the Expected Goals they allow is very poor. They have an okay Save % in all situations, certainly not anything that's getting them wins they don't deserve. Ilya Samsonov is the 33rd best goalie out of 56 at Goals Saved Above Expected per 60 (minimum 6 games played) and Adin Hill is 35th

The only standout is their Shooting %. They have scored 72 goals in all-situations on 57 Expected Goals. That's not just shooter skill. That's unsustainable luck-infused shooting. They have a good power play and have been scoring over expected there as well as at five-on-five.

Lines

Last Game (2024-11-17) via Daily Faceoff

Ivan Barbashev - Jack Eichel - Pavel Dorofeyev
Tomas Hertl - Nicolas Roy - Keegan Kolesar
Brett Howden - William Karlsson - Alexander Holtz
Tanner Pearson - Cole Schwindt - Ben Hutton

Alex Pietrangelo - Shea Theodore
Brayden McNabb - Kaedan Korczak
Noah Hanifin - Zach Whitecloud

Adin Hill
Ilya Samsonov

Us

Everyone is on IR. The trainer, the guy who sharpens the skates, the assistant to the associate deputy equipment manager, several ushers, the guy who winds the scoreboard clock and the zamboni driver.

Also Auston Matthews, Max Domi, David Kämpf, Max Pacioretty, Calle Järnkrok, and the forgotten man, Dakota Mermis.

Recalled are Fraser Minten and Nikita Grebenkin from the Marlies to join Alex Steeves, who has been around for a couple of games. They are all playing as there is no extra forward with Ryan Reaves suspended.

How to arrange them, though. Alphabetically? Starting with B, Simon Benoit is back on the third pair with Jani Hakanpää out.

The logical choice to solve the centre shortage is to put Mitch Marner and William Nylander on the same line and they can either/or the playing centre job, since we know Craig Berube talked to Marner about playing some C. But I don't think taking Marner off the top line with John Tavares is really the right call.

It is possible Berube is even less enamoured of the Nylander as a C experiment than I am. I think it eliminates all his exceptional value and turns him into a merely adequate forward.

Berube has said that Pontus Holmberg will play some centre, and the only open spot is on line two. Assume the line blender will be warmed up and ready to go, however.

Lines

Speculative lines:

Bobby McMann - John Tavares - Mitch Marner
Matthew Knies - Pontus Holmberg - William Nylander
Nikita Grebenkin - Fraser Minten - Nick Robertson
Connor Dewar - Steven Lorentz - Alexander Steeves

Defence with the one change for tonight:

Morgan Rielly - Oliver Ekman-Larsson
Jake McCabe - Chris Tanev
Simon Benoit - Conor Timmins

Joe Woll - starter
Anthony Stolarz

The Game

GREB! Minty! That's the game I'm watching. Is this an idea situation? No, but it is an opportunity, and all they can do is try to make an impact.

Game Coverage