Toronto Maple Leafs @ Tampa Bay Lightning
07:00 PM at Amalie Arena
Watch on: SN, CBC, FDSNSUN

The Leafs last game was away on November 27 against the Florida Panthers, which Toronto lost by a score of 5-1 in regulation. The Leafs have a record of 13-7-2 for a 0.636 Points %.

The Tampa Bay Lightning last played away on November 29 against the Nashville Predators. The Lightning won by a score of 3-2 in overtime, and their current league record is 12-8-2 for a 0.591 Points %.

Them

Third in the Atlantic by Points % behind Toronto and Florida, the Lightning are doing that thing where they look like a playoff team, but also like a team teetering on top of the downslope of decline.

They are a slightly above average team at five-on-five, but they've been getting some slightly below average goaltending, and they are making their way on shooting skill and some luck. "Some luck" includes Brayden Point shooting at 39%.

Steven Stamkos moving on has likely helped them a little at five-on-five, but their power play is not top echelon like it used to be. They are scoring over expected, however, and see above regarding Point.

As per usual Andrei Vasilevskiy is at least good, and will likely hit very good when he needs to, and the backup is a guy who wouldn't get NHL starts on any other team. Vasilevskiy took the Nashville game off after a rough start in his previous game, and he is officially listed as day-to-day, but I expect him to play the Leafs since Matt Tomkins has been sent back to the AHL.

Gabby Shirley

Jon Cooper on who will play and who will not play in this game: “We’ve got a whole bunch of guys who are going to be game times. We’re bringing Conor Sheary up. That’s at the point we are so, when we are calling guys up, you know there might be some issues.”

— Paul has missed 5 games with a lower body injury, his return is “indefinite”
— Chaffee has missed 2 games with an upper body injury, he is listed as day to day
— Cirelli missed a part of that first period in Nashville due to taking a puck to the face, he did return in the first period
— Kucherov missed the end of the first period and the entire second period in Nashville but he did return for that final period and for OT … he assisted on the GWG

Lines

Last Game (2024-11-29) via Daily Faceoff

Jake Guentzel - Brayden Point - Nikita Kucherov
Brandon Hagel - Anthony Cirelli - Gage Goncalves
Darren Raddysh - Conor Geekie - Cam Atkinson
Zemgus Girgensons - Luke Glendening - Michael Eyssimont

Victor Hedman - J.J. Moser
Ryan McDonagh - Erik Cernak
Emil Lilleberg - Nick Perbix

Andrei Vasilevskiy
Jonas Johansson

Us

Matthews is back! The lines from the most recent practice leave Mitch Marner with John Tavares and include Matt Knies on the top line.

Bobby McMann is now hurt, and it appeared based on the practice yesterday that Alex Nylander was the odd man out at forward.

Someone has to come off the roster to make room under the 23-man limit if McMann does not go on IR.

Lines

David Alter via Daily Faceoff

Matthew Knies - Auston Matthews - William Nylander
Pontus Holmberg - John Tavares - Mitch Marner
Nicholas Robertson - Fraser Minten - Steven Lorentz
Alexander Steeves - Connor Dewar - Nikita Grebenkin

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

Anthony Stolarz
Joe Woll - expected starter

The Game

The Leafs really need to shake off the lethargy induced by this bizarre schedule. They've gone from overplaying to barely having two games a week, and add to that the holiday feel of this road trip, and you've got a situation rife for a turkey coma game.

Wake up! Play like you mean it. And Berube says to stay out of the box.

Game Coverage