Toronto Maple Leafs @ Edmonton Oilers
07:00 PM at Rogers Place
Watch on: SN, CBC

The Leafs last game was at home on January 29 against the Minnesota Wild, which Toronto lost by a score of 3-1 in regulation. The Leafs have a record of 30-19-2 for a 0.608 Points %.

The Edmonton Oilers last played at home on January 30 against the Detroit Red Wings. The Oilers lost by a score of 3-2 in shootout, and their current league record is 32-15-4 for a 0.667 Points %.

Them

Last year's SCF loser took some time to get going this year, but once you add John Klingberg, you're serious about winning. (Yes I know he's get 10 points tonight.)

The last time the Leafs played the Oilers, which you will hear about all night long, started out great, then turned into the Ryan Reaves show and then finally, Mitch Marner grabbed the victory from the jaws of defeat with an overtime goal.

The Oilers had a 0.559 Points % before that game, so they've been winning clean a lot more. They are third in Corsi and Expected Goals at five-on-five, sixth in Expected Goals on the power play, and sixth in Goal rate. Their all-situations Save and Shooting percentages are average.

That is a winning formula, and while the holes in their defence won't really be fixed by John Klingberg, he likely will make them better, depending on his physical health.

Lines

Tony Brar via Daily Faceoff from yesterday's practice.

Leon Draisaitl - Connor McDavid - Corey Perry
Viktor Arvidsson - Ryan Nugent-Hopkins - Zach Hyman
Vasily Podkolzin - Adam Henrique - Connor Brown
Jeff Skinner - Mattias Janmark - Kasperi Kapanen

Darnell Nurse - Evan Bouchard
Mattias Ekholm - John Klingberg
Brett Kulak - Ty Emberson

Stuart Skinner - likely starter
Calvin Pickard

Us

John Tavares and Matt Knies are back and Ryan Reaves seems not to be on the playing roster.

Lines

Mark Masters via Daily Faceoff from yesterday's practice

Matthew Knies - Auston Matthews - Mitch Marner
Max Pacioretty - John Tavares - William Nylander
Bobby McMann - Max Domi - Nicholas Robertson
Pontus Holmberg - David Kämpf - Steven Lorentz

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

Joe Woll - presumed starter
Matt Murray

The Game

I looked at the shot plots from the first period of the Leafs vs the Oilers back in November, and it was good hockey. Before Reaves derailed the game, they were playing like a winning team. If they do that, they have a chance tonight. If they pepper the shins of the Oilers with shots from the outer ring of the solar system, they will need to win by goaltending.

Game Coverage