Game preview: Maple Leafs host the Penguins in a game that may actually start on time

Pittsburgh Penguins at Toronto Maple Leafs

Time: 7:00PM

Location: Scotiabank Arena

Broadcast/Streaming: CBC, Sportsnet, NHL Live

Opponent SBNation Site: Pensburgh

I don’t know if the CBA dictates how much time there has to be between games, but the Maple Leafs game last night didn’t begin until almost 8:30 - despite a scheduled start time of 7:30 - and now the next game will begin with less than 24 hours between them.

Moving on from the failure of the Red Wings to stick to a schedule, the Leafs have a chance to make up for what was their worst game of the season. Yeah, you were coming off a bye week, but wow. Tonight there’s no room for lazy play like we saw last night. The Penguins are coming to town with some new centres, and the drive that has seen them climb up from the bottom to near the top of their division.

Just like the bye week was no excuse last night - both teams were playing their first game back - this being game two of a back to back can’t be used to explain away play as the Penguins hosted the Ottawa Senators last night.

Here are your projected lines for tonight

Maple Leafs

Forward Lines

Zach Hyman - John Tavares - Kasperi Kapanen
Patrick Marleau - Auston Matthews - Mitch Marner
Connor Brown - Nazem Kadri - William Nylander
Par Lindholm - Frederik Gauthier - Andreas Johnsson

I don’t see forward changes coming tonight. One game isn’t the usual length of time the Leafs will go before changing things up. I would like to go back to Tavares - Marner, myself.

Defence Pairings

Jake Muzzin - Morgan Rielly
Jake Gardiner - Nikita Zaitsev
Travis Dermott - Ron Hainsey

Maybe there will be some flipping of sides or a slight shuffle to the pairings, trying to find what Muzzin will be most comfortable with.

Goaltenders

Garret Sparks
Frederik Andersen

It’s game two of a back to back, so it’s a Sparks night. Prep your tweeting as needed.

Pittsburgh Penguins

Forward Lines

Jake Guentzel - Sidney Crosby - Dominik Simon
Bryan Rust - Nick Bjugstad - Phil Kessel
Tanner Pearson - Jared McCann - Patric Hornqvist
Garrett Wilson - Teddy Blueger - Matt Cullen

Evgeni Malkin and Zach Aston-Reese are out for tonight’s game.

Defence Pairings

Brian Dumoulin - Kris Letang
Olli Maatta - Juuso Riikola
Marcus Petterson - Jack Johnson

Nick Schultz sits out on the blue line tonight.

Goaltenders

Matt Murray
Casey DeSmith

Round one vs Boston Bruins