Toronto Maple Leafs @ Anaheim Ducks
08:00 PM at Honda Center
Watch on: SNO, KTTV, Victory+

The Leafs last game was away on March 29 against the Los Angeles Kings, which Toronto won by a score of 3-1 in regulation. The Leafs have a record of 44-25-4 for a 0.630 Points %.

The Anaheim Ducks last played at home on March 28 against the New York Rangers. The Ducks won by a score of 5-4 in overtime, and their current league record is 32-32-8 for a 0.500 Points %.

Them

I've noticed the Ducks have been winning lately, and why not? They aren't ever going to tank below the Sharks, and they have a future to look towards where their youth actually has to try to win. They also have good goalies which makes it hard to do what the serious tankers are doing.

That said, they lost a lot of games early, so this slight uptick in results isn't getting them anywhere.

The Ducks lose in part because they are a genuinely bad team at five-on-five. When Leafs fans get upset that the Leafs aren't over 50% all the time in Corsi or Expected Goals – they're at 48% and 49% right now – they talk like the team is dreadful. The Ducks – 44% and 45% – are dreadful, and are in a separate class from the rest of the league with the Sharks and Chicago in this respect.

Anaheim gets better goaltending (by Save%) than the Leafs, but they struggle to score goals. The roster is obviously a little weak on scoring skill. Not devoid of it, however.

This game is a 5 pm start time locally, so no regular morning skate for lines. The below is from their last game and subject to change. Lukas Dostal played that game two days ago, so it might be Gibson's turn tonight.

Lines

Last Game (2025-03-28) via Daily Faceoff

Frank Vatrano - Ryan Strome - Troy Terry
Cutter Gauthier - Leo Carlsson - Alex Killorn
Trevor Zegras - Mason McTavish - Sam Colangelo
Nikita Nesterenko - Isac Lundestrom - Jansen Harkins

Jackson Lacombe - Radko Gudas
Olen Zellweger - Jacob Trouba
Pavel Mintyukov - Drew Helleson

John Gibson - possible starter
Lukas Dostal

Us

Joe Woll is the likely starter, the only possible lineup changes are Phil Myers or Nick Robertson replacing someone of equal value.

Lines

Last Game (2025-03-29) via Daily Faceoff

Matthew Knies - Auston Matthews - Mitch Marner
Bobby McMann - John Tavares - William Nylander
Scott Laughton - Max Domi - Calle Järnkrok
Pontus Holmberg - David Kämpf - Steven Lorentz

Morgan Rielly - Brandon Carlo
Jake McCabe - Chris Tanev
Simon Benoit - Oliver Ekman-Larsson

Joe Woll - presumed starter
Anthony Stolarz

The Game

Traditionally, the Leafs play the last game of the California road trip like a burning dumpster sliding over a cliff in a flash flood.

Maybe don't do that.

The first time these two teams played was the game Anthony Stolarz left injured in December. The Leafs played an overwhelmingly good offensive game against the wall that is Lukas Dostal, but left their brains and defensive awareness in their other pants for the entire three periods. They basically begged the Ducks to keep it close. They also were still in their "why is this power play so bad" portion of the season.

The lesson here is that the Ducks will take advantage of an open door, so don't open it. The other lesson is that if you've fixed your opinions on the Leafs back in December, boy are they out of date.

Game Coverage