Auston is in as the Maple Leafs face the Sharks at home

San Jose Sharks at Toronto Maple Leafs
Time: 7:30PM
Location: Scotiabank Arena
Broadcast/Streaming: Sportsnet, TVA Sports, NBC Sports California, NHL.tv
Opponent SBNation Site: Fear the Fin

November has been a very good month for the Maple Leafs. Even without Auston Matthews and William Nylander, the Maple Leafs have been 9-4 for the month, including a 5-3 win over tonight’s opponent, the San Jose Sharks. On the other side of the game the Sharks are 6-5-2 so far in November with a healthy line up.

This is the final game of the three game home stand were the Leafs have gotten Ron Hextall fired after a 6-0 win and then defeated a heavily injured Bruins team 4-2.  The Sharks road trip took them to Vegas for a 6-0 loss and then to Buffalo last night for a 3-2 overtime loss.

This is the final game of the month for both teams, who will end November on a winning note?

Maple Leafs

Forward Lines

With Matthews back and Gauthier out, this will get sorted out somehow.

Guy - Auston Matthews - Guy
Zach Hyman - John Tavares - Mitchell Marner
Patrick Marleau - Nazem Kadri - Kasperi Kapanen
Andreas Johnsson - Par Lindholm - Connor Brown
Josh Leivo - ??? - Tyler Ennis

Defence Pairings

Morgan Rielly - Ron Hainsey
Jake Gardiner - Nikita Zaitsev
Travis Dermott - Igor Ozhiganov

Travis Dermott and Igor Ozhiganov scored their first goals of the season, so the ice is broken, the dam is leaking, look out!

Goaltenders

Frederik Andersen
Garret Sparks

It’s not game two of a back to back so it’s not a Garret Sparks game most likely.

San Jose Sharks

Forward Lines

Evander Kane - Joe Pavelski - Joonas Donskoi
Tomas Hertl - Logan Couture - Timo Meier
Marcus Sorensen - Joe Thornton - Kevin Labanc
Lukas Radil - Barclay Goodrow - Melker Karlsson

The Sharks are at full strength and looking to get at least one win on this trip, so we could be in for a hard fought game. Or, we’re on the back half of a back to back with a three hour time difference for the Sharks players, we could be in for a sloggy, tired game.

Defence Pairings

Joakim Ryan - Brent Burns
Marc-Edouard Vlasic - Justin Braun
Brenden Dillon - Erik Karlsson

The Sharks defence is a little wishy-washy. They’re letting teams score 4+ goals a game and then helping the goaltender get a shutout. Make up your minds people! Preferably, sticking to the first point.

Goaltenders

Aaron Dell
Martin Jones

The assumption is the back up on a back to back night, but that could just be Mike Babcock getting into my head.

Leafs vs Bruins

The Maple Leafs are riding high on new goals and big wins. They have a chance tonight to have a perfect home stand to match their perfect California road trip, and hopefully they both have a big win against the Sharks,

This morning’s skate was optional, so we have no line rushes to judge from. We’ll find out in warmups who goes where.