LGD – It’s Happening

The Leafs were up 4-2 against the Florida Panthers heading into the third last night and ended up losing 6-4, outshot 35-17.  It’s a good thing they don’t have to play the next night against the second-best team in the East or anything.

Oh, crap.  Well this should be fun.

The Leafs have really struggled lately and are coming off maybe their most embarrassing loss of the year.  It’s also the second game in a back-to-back and I’d be willing to bet a hefty sum there is no morning skate.  So, it’s very possible the Leafs lines get thrown into a blender tonight against the Bolts and we won’t know what those new lines are until puck-drop.  That said, if things don’t get shaken up, here are the expected lines:

Joffrey Lupul-Tyler Bozak-Phil Kessel

James van Riemsdyk-Nazem Kadri-Mike Santorelli

Daniel Winnik-Peter Holland-David Clarkson

David Booth-Trevor Smith-Carter Ashton

Dion Phaneuf-Cody Franson

Jake Gardiner-Roman Polak

Morgan Rielly-Stephane Robidas

Cedric Paquette-Steven Stamkos-Brett Connolly

Alex Killorn-Valtteri Filpulla-Ryan Callahan

Ondrej Palat-Tyler Johnson-Nikita Kucherov

Brenden Morrow-Brian Boyle-J.T. Brown

Victor Hedman-Andrej Sustr

Matt Carle-Anton Stralman

Mark Barberio-Radko Gudas

Ben Bishop (.915) is expected to get the start for Tampa Bay.

For Toronto, it’s a pretty interesting scenario.  Jonathan Bernier is out for the time-being with the flu and while it’s possible he could play tonight it seems unlikely.  James Reimer has played well most of the season but has laid the odd egg.  If there was a break between games I would unquestionably go back to Reimer, but given that it’s a back-to-back and the fact that Randy Carlyle doesn’t seem to have a ton of trust in Reimer, it’ll be interesting to see what he does.  And just 22 years old, backup Christopher Gibson has never played a second in the NHL.  So, do you throw the kid into the fire or go to the guy you don’t trust that much two nights in a row?  I’d be inclined to go with Reimer since, you know, it’s James Reimer.  But there is a case to be made for Gibson.  It’ll be really interesting to see what the coaching staff does.