LGD: Bringing Broadway Back

Photo Credit: Adam Hunger/USA TODAY SPORTS

The Toronto Maple Leafs can overtake the Boston Bruins and jump into the second seed of the Atlantic Division tonight, as long as they defeat the New York Rangers. Said victory would, in theory, give them a 0.604 record. On January 19th.

No need to pinch, you’re not dreaming. But they still need to get those two points, so let’s talk about the game ahead.

Toronto Maple Leafs lines courtesy of Daily Faceoff

But at a cost. The Leafs lost Morgan Rielly to a leg injury suffered on Tuesday; he was probably the last player they wanted Frankie to fill in for, besides Jake Gardiner. He’s going to play with Connor Carrick, the least proven defenceman he could possibly slot in with, but it’s still something. It’s a pair with two same-handed shots, which usually means trouble, but it’s still something. Hunwick and Polak are playing on the second pair, but it’s still something (not to mention, they’ve been decent of late).

New York Rangers lines courtesy of Daily Faceoff

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Henrik Lundqvist appears to be the starter for this one, as far as the rangers go. His not-very-Lundqvisty year has continued to transpire in recent weeks; through 32 games, he’s at a career-low 0.902 save percentage. Keep in mind that this is a goalie who hasn’t been below 0.920 since 2009/10.

Frederik Andersen likely starts again for the Leafs. He wasn’t mindblowing, but still good enough for the win against the Sabres on Tuesday, and was stellar against the Rangers last week when he stopped 34 of 36.

Obviously, the Rangers are going to be bloodthirsty after losing to the Leafs six days ago at Madison Square Garden. That loss actually started a three-game losing streak for them, which has the gap between the two teams slowly dwindling.  

In each of those losses, New York allowed more goals than the previous game; 4 against Toronto, 5 against, Montreal, and 7 against Dallas, so expect them to be playing extremely strict and motivated in the defensive zone.

The Leafs, on the other hand? The third pair is, for now, the second pair, and they’re going to have to deal with a mobile team; hopefully they can stay above water like they did the last time the two sides played. The other two pairs should be fun to watch from an observational standpoint; Gardiner and Zaitsev is probably the best combo this team can put out right now, and Carrick-Corrado, well, they’ll have chances to prove their long-term worth.

Puck drop for this game is at 7:30. You can catch it on TSN.