The Leafs are hosting the Detroit Red Wings tonight in the second of a back-to-back weekend. The Leafs had a solid 5-3 win last night when the New York Rangers were in town. Detroit had the benefit of an afternoon game yesterday at their home arena against the Panthers, giving them a little bit more time to rest before tonight’s contest.

So far this season, the Leafs have played the Red Wings twice, going 1-0-1 in those games. They will play tonight, and then once more later in the year, getting four total games against their division rival.

The scoring for the Leafs has been on fire lately, scoring 18 goals in their last 3 games, so they’ll look to have another scoring festival tonight.

Leafs Lines

Since the Leafs played last night, the morning skate should only have the players who aren’t playing tonight. The lines will be updated after the skate, but for now, let’s assume they’ll run the same lineup they did last night, but with a change in the starting goalie. 

After the injury to Tyler Ennis last night, it is expected that Trevor Moore will take his place on the minimally-used Leafs 4th line.

It’s also expected that Justin Holl will play on the bottom pairing tonight, with Igor Ozhiganov being out with an illness and Martin Marincin having played the last 2 games in his place.

LW	C	RW	Forwards
ANDREAS JOHNSSON Rating: 74.0#44 LW	JOHN TAVARES Rating: 81.2#14 C	MITCH MARNER Rating: 78.1#17 RW	FL1 Rating Rating: 77.77#19 FL1
PATRICK MARLEAU Rating: 74.7#34 LW	AUSTON MATTHEWS Rating: 85.7#6 C	KASPERI KAPANEN Rating: 73.7#47 RW	FL2 Rating Rating: 78.03#2 FL2
CONNOR BROWN Rating: 70.6#96 LW	NAZEM KADRI Rating: 78.1#31 C	WILLIAM NYLANDER Rating: 75.7#33 RW	FL3 Rating Rating: 74.81#2 FL3
PAR LINDHOLM Rating: 71.4#90 LW	FREDERIK GAUTHIER Rating: 69.5#175 C	Trevor Moore	FL4 Rating Rating: 70.86#9 FL4

DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS		Defense
MORGAN RIELLY Rating: 80.2#5 LD	RON HAINSEY Rating: 72.8#45 RD	DL1 Rating Rating: 76.53#11 DL1
JAKE GARDINER Rating: 78.0#8 LD	NIKITA ZAITSEV Rating: 71.3#74 RD	DL2 Rating Rating: 74.68#9 DL2
TRAVIS DERMOTT Rating: 74.1#35 LD	Justin Holl	DL3 Rating Rating: 72.42#8 DL3

GOALIES
GARRET SPARKS Rating: 69.4#46 G1	FREDERIK ANDERSEN Rating: 77.1#11 G2

Red Wings Lines

The same assumption was made for the Wings, that they will use the same roster that they used last night. Since former Leaf Jonathan Bernier got the start last night, the Leafs will likely face Jimmy Howard in goal instead.

LW	C	RW	Forwards
GUSTAV NYQUIST Rating: 75.0#33 LW	DYLAN LARKIN Rating: 78.4#29 C	JUSTIN ABDELKADER Rating: 70.4#109 RW	FL1 Rating Rating: 74.62#27 FL1
THOMAS VANEK Rating: 71.5#87 LW	ANDREAS ATHANASIOU Rating: 74.1#60 C	MICHAEL RASMUSSEN Rating: 71.2#138 RW	FL2 Rating Rating: 72.25#27 FL2
TYLER BERTUZZI Rating: 72.3#67 LW	FRANS NIELSEN Rating: 72.2#102 C	LUKE GLENDENING Rating: 69.2#114 RW	FL3 Rating Rating: 71.23#19 FL3
CHRISTOFFER EHN Rating: 72.2#68 LW	JACOB DE LA ROSE Rating: 68.4#185 C	MARTIN FRK Rating: 69.4#111 RW	FL4 Rating Rating: 69.99#21 FL4

DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS		Defense
NIKLAS KRONWALL Rating: 71.1#89 LD	NICK JENSEN Rating: 70.8#86 RD	DL1 Rating Rating: 70.94#30 DL1
DENNIS CHOLOWSKI Rating: 71.8#72 LD	TREVOR DALEY Rating: 70.4#108 RD	DL2 Rating Rating: 71.09#26 DL2
JONATHAN ERICSSON Rating: 68.5#131 LD	FILIP HRONEK Rating: 72.4#51 RD	DL3 Rating Rating: 70.46#21 DL3

GOALIES
JIMMY HOWARD Rating: 76.9#13 G1	JONATHAN BERNIER Rating: 68.7#52 G2

Preview

The Leafs are quite clearly the better team on paper, but with division rivals, we know well that anything can happen. The Red Wings have struggled so far this season, and the Leafs have had a lot of success, but this game will still be a challenge as much as any NHL game will.

In this competition, it will be important for the Leafs to be focused on these three Keys to the Game:

• Stay focused!
  • No game is easy
• Keep the powerplay going
  • The Leafs PP has been hard to stop lately
• Protect Sparks
  • He has struggled of late, so keep the shots easy and to the outside

The game starts at 7:30 pm tonight, and will be broadcast on Sportsnet. See you there, and Go Leafs Go!