Toronto Maple Leafs at New York Rangers
Time: 7:00 PM ET
Location: Madison Square Garden
Broadcast/Streaming: Rogers Sportsnet, NBC Sportsnet, TVA Sports, NHL Live
Opponent SBNation Site: Blueshirt Banter
How about those Maple Leafs, eh? After a back and forth game with the Montreal Canadiens last night, and emerging victorious in overtime, there was no time to celebrate with some poutine and outrage over font size. The Maple Leafs hopped on their jet and flew south to New York City, where the Rangers are at the starting point of a rebuild.
The Rangers had the night off last night, but were shut out by the Hurricanes on Friday night. They’ve been losing a lot, or winning by a single goal, since the all star break. They’re last solid win was a 5-2 victory over the Hurricanes, back on January 15th.
We have a battle of the back ups tonight as well, with Sparks in for the Leafs, and Georgiev in for the Rangers. Georgiev was also in net the last time the Maple Leafs faced the Rangers, which was a 5-3 victory that was a little slow to start.
Tonight should be a win. Should be.
Toronto Maple Leafs
Zach Hyman - John Tavares - Mitchell Marner
Patrick Marleau - Auston Matthews - Kasperi Kapanen
Connor Brown - Nazem Kadri - William Nylander
Par Lindholm - Frederik Gauthier - Andreas Johnsson
Jake Muzzin - Morgan Rielly
Jake Gardiner - Nikita Zaitsev
Travis Dermott - Ron Hainsey
Garret Sparks
Frederik Andersen
Paul Hendricks says no changes to the lines tonight, so Tyler Ennis will have to wait another day to rejoin the team.
New York Rangers
Chris Kreider - Mika Zibanejad - Mats Zuccarello
Pavel Buchnevich - Kevin Hayes - Jesper Fast
Filip Chytil - Ryan Strome - Vladislav Namestnikov
Jimmy Vesey - Cristoval Nieves - Vinni Lettieri
Marc Staal - Anthony Deangelo
Brady Skjei - Adam McQuaid
Brendan Smith - Kevin Shattenkirk
Alexander Georgiev
Henrik Lundqvist
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% |
After showing the NHL that the Leafs can beat their future playoff opponents, it’s time to show everyone you won’t take any opponent lightly. Day off or no day off, back to back or long gap, the Leafs need to come out hard each game. If they can start strong and stay there, the world is theirs.
Go Leafs Go!
