Toronto Maple Leafs at Buffalo Sabres
Time: 7:00PM
Location: MarineHSBCKeyFirstNiagaraBankMidland Arenatorium
Broadcast/Streaming: Sportsnet, TVA Sports, NHL Live
Opponent SBNation Site: Die by the Blade
The Maple Leafs should be feeling pretty good about themselves as they prepare to play the perpetually rebuilding Buffalo Sabres. Last night's game against the Predators - while a little, sleepy, at times - was the best performance we’ve seen in a while.
The Predators had Vezina winning goalie Pekka Rinne in net, and now the Leafs will be shooting against Carter Hutton and his amazing below average play.
Of course the Sabres get to shoot on the polarizing Garret Sparks, so you win some you lose some.
Now I’m late getting this preview out, so lets cut the chatter and focus on the facts; first the lines.
Maple Leafs
Forward Lines
Zach Hyman - John Tavares - Mitch Marner
Andreas Johnsson - Auston Matthews - William Nylander
Patrick Marleau - Nazem Kadri - Kapseri Kapanen
Trevor Moore - Nic Petan - Connor Brown
Defence Pairings
Morgan Rielly - Ron Hainsey
Jake Muzzin - Nikita Zaitsev
Justin Holl - Igor Ozhiganov
The line up is from last night, Babcock if any changes come, they’ll come at game time.
Goaltenders
Garret Sparks
Frederik Andersen
Buffalo Sabres
Forward Lines
Jeff Skinner - Jack Eichel - Sam Reinhart
Conor Sheary - Evan Rodrigues - Alex Nylander
Vladimir Sobotka - Casey Mittelstadt - Tage Thompson
Zemgus Girgensons - Johan Larsson - Kyle Okposo
Defence Pairings
Zach Bogosian - Rasmus Ristolainen
Rasmus Dahlin - Brandon Montour
Marco Scandella - Casey Nelson
Goaltenders
Carter Hutton
Linus Ullmark
Round one vs Boston Bruins
| Toronto | Team | Boston |
|---|---|---|
| 3-2 | Record | 2-3 |
| 14GF - 14GA | Goal Differential | 14GF - 14GA |
| 27.3% - 5th | Power Play | 35.7% - 2nd |
| 64.3% - 15th | Penalty Kill | 72.7% - 12th |
| Auston Matthews - 4 | Most Goals | Bergeron, Krejci, Pastrnak, Marchand, Coyle - 2 |
| Morgan Rielly - 4 | Most Assists | Brad Marchand - 4 |
| Auston Matthews - 5 | Most Points | Brad Marchand - 6 |
| Nazem Kadri - 19 | Most PM | Charlie McAvoy - 6 |
| Morgan Rielly - 24:34/G | TOI Leader | Charlie McAvoy - 16 |
| Frederik Andersen - .925sv% | Starting Goalie | Tuukka Rask - .922sv% |
The Maple Leafs haven’t historically had an easy time winning games in Buffalo, even though it’s a home rink for them.. The last game between these two teams ended with a 5-2 victory, the game before that it was a 5-3 win, and before that a 4-3 Overtime win.
It’s going to be an exciting game one way or another. See you all at 7.
Go Leafs go!
