Winnipeg Jets @ Toronto Maple Leafs
07:00 PM at Scotiabank Arena
Watch on: TVAS, SN

The Leafs last game was an away game on January 21 against the Seattle Kraken, which Toronto won by a score of 3-1 in regulation. The Leafs have a record of 23-14-8 for a 0.600 Points %.

The Winnipeg Jets last played away on January 22 against the Boston Bruins. The Jets lost by a score of 4-1 in regulation, and their current league record is 30-11-4 for a 0.711 Points %.

Them

The Jets come into Toronto fresh off one of the few games all season where they gave up more than three goals. LA is the only other team to beat them like Boston beat them, and that was back in October.

It's easy to say the Jets are just Connor Hellebuyck, but it's not really true this season. They have a legitimate five-on-five game, and are seventh in the NHL in Expected Goals and Corsi. They're better defensively than offensively, but it's hardly necessary for them to outscore anyone this season, so that doesn't even count as a flaw.

Their power play is extremely bad, in the Chicago/Buffalo end of the league table and they actually score under expected. But again, they don't need goals for.

Surprisingly their shorthanded Save % is also very poor, and pretty much exactly the same as the Leafs. Both teams have mediocre Expected Goals Against shorthanded, so in both cases, the problem is mostly the goalie.

Boston beat them with two regulation goals, a shorthanded goal and capped it with an ENG, however. The Jets are choosing to play their backup against the Leafs for this road game, and I assume Hellebuyck will get the home game on Saturday. Laurent Brossoit hasn't played much, but he's been starter quality while he's been in net.

Mark Scheifele has been on IR, but is practicing and can return to the lineup for tonight's game.

Lines

Update:

Last Game (01/22) via Daily Faceoff

Kyle Connor - Adam Lowry - Alex Iafallo
Cole Perfetti - Vladislav Namestnikov - Nikolaj Ehlers
Nino Niederreiter - Dominic Toninato - Mason Appleton
Morgan Barron - Rasmus Kupari - Axel Jonsson-Fjallby

Josh Morrissey - Dylan DeMelo
Brenden Dillon - Neal Pionk
Dylan Samberg - Nate Schmidt

Connor Hellebuyck
Laurent Brossoit - confirmed starter

Us

Tyler Bertuzzi is off the roster for the pending birth of a next gen Bertuzzi. Oh, and this is a Next Gen game, so prepare for the reverse retro look. Yesterday's practice lines are below via Mark Masters. Mark Giordano gets another game off, and Ryan Reaves was skating as the thirteenth forward even with Bertuzzi absent.

Fresh of his win in Seattle, Ilya Samsonov gets the start.

Lines

Matthew Knies - Auston Matthews - Mitch Marner
Pontus Holmberg - John Tavares - William Nylander
Nicholas Robertson - Max Domi - Calle Järnkrok
Bobby McMann - David Kämpf - Noah Gregor

Morgan Rielly - T.J. Brodie
Jake McCabe - Timothy Liljegren
Simon Benoit - Conor Timmins

Ilya Samsonov - starter
Martin Jones

The Game

The Leafs need a game like they played against LA a few weeks back. They also need solid goaltending, attention to detail, full commitment from everyone and for the entire team to forget that there's only two games left before the break.

They've played well in the final games of two road trips and thumped the Blue Jackets in their final game before the Christmas break. Their track record this season of sticking to business has been very good.

Keep it up.

Game Coverage