Tampa Bay Lightning @ Toronto Maple Leafs
07:30 PM at Scotiabank Arena
Watch on: NHLN, Prime, TVAS, BSSUN

The Leafs last game was at home on October 19 against the New York Rangers, which Toronto lost by a score of 4-1 in regulation. The Leafs have a record of 3-2-0 for a 0.600 Points %.

The Tampa Bay Lightning last played away on October 19 against the Ottawa Senators. The Lightning lost by a score of 5-4 in regulation, and their current league record is 3-1-0 for a 0.750 Points %.

Note: This game is broadcast on Amazon Prime in English Canada. No other station or streaming service carries it.

Them

They just lost to Ottawa, but they lead the Atlantic by Points %. They don't believe in rebuilds in Tampa, and they are serious about winning this season.

Swapping out Steven Stamkos for Jake Guentzel was a ruthless way to keep the team competitive, but it was also the right move. Stamkos has declined dramatically lately, and Guentzel's impacts on offence are outstanding. The removal of Mikhail Sergachev was both a cap clearing exercise and recognition that he was pretty terrible last year.

Nonetheless, the quality of the Lightning's roster declines off the top line pretty rapidly. Their second line, who can shut down any Leafs line, would be a killer third line on a contender. You could say they lack secondary scoring beyond the top line, but that top line is scarier than the Rangers trio. And huh, Zemgus Girgensons, what's he doing there?

Andrei Vasilevskiy has been good – in Anthony Stolarz territory, but not league leading so far this year.

Lines

From this morning.

Jake Guentzel - Brayden Point - Nikita Kucherov
Brandon Hagel - Anthony Cirelli - Mitchell Chaffee
Nicholas Paul - Conor Geekie - Cam Atkinson
Zemgus Girgensons - Luke Glendening - Michael Eyssimont

Victor Hedman - J.J. Moser
Ryan McDonagh - Erik Cernak
Emil Lilleberg - Darren Raddysh

Andrei Vasilevskiy - assumed starter
Jonas Johansson

Us

The Leafs had a practice focused on special teams and made a few lineup changes, though not to the first power play unit. Max Pacioretty draws in and will be on the second power play unit, and Ryan Reaves is out tonight.

I've made a likely lineup from those changes, but there were no line rushes today.

All things are possible.

Lines

David Alter via Daily Faceoff

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

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

Anthony Stolarz - starter
Dennis Hildeby

The Game

This game should be hard, just like the last one. All the Leafs need to do is play like they did in the second half last time for the whole game, and they're good.

Note: because this game is on Prime, I'll try to do a more comprehensive recap.

Game Coverage