LGD: Blue on both sides

It was just days ago that the Leafs’ season was again ready to be written off, another 18-wheeler set to go over the cliff. But with a three-game point streak quickly put together, today Toronto finds itself tied for second in the Atlantic and just eight points back of the division-leading Canadiens with three games in hand. It’s been, and will continue to be, a constant battle of highs and lows for this team, especially given their style. Tonight they’ll go to work looking to keep this high point going, sole possession of that second seed potentially in the cards.

Visiting the ACC tonight, the Blues are a team riding a pair of wins since canning Ken Hitchcock last week and sending in Mike Yeo, who was going to replace him at season’s end anyway. This is also a team that rolled the Leafs last week, 5-1. So yeah, this’ll be a tough one.

Andersen (0.914 sv%) has been confirmed to start tonight for the Leafs, while our friends at Daily Faceoff currently have Jake Allen (0.900) as ‘likely’ to go for St. Louis.

These two teams are incredibly evenly matched, as you can see from our quick hit of numbers above. They both look to be upper-mid-pack teams who should have a say in each conference’s playoff situation down the stretch. 

The Blues’ biggest concern this season has been in net, somewhere the Leafs themselves have been a bit flimsy recently with Andersen’s play dipping hard. With the Leafs enjoying home ice advantage, I expect a better effort than last week’s stomping, but it might turn out that this game is decided by the battle between goalies. Now would be a nice time for Freddie to turn things around. 

Game goes 7:30 EST on Sportsnet Ontario.