LGD: Leafs Look To Stay Hot Against Bruins
9 years ago
The Leafs face the Bruins tonight at home and for some reason the game starts at 8pm. You’ve been warned, so find something else to do between 7 and 8. Spend time with your girlfriend or your dog, maybe watch some Brooklyn Nine-Nine re-runs, I don’t know.
Seriously, why is the game at 8? Who thought that was a good idea?
The Leafs come in to this game red hot going 5-1-1 in their last seven. Coincidentally, that streak came after an embarrassing home loss to these very Bruins who are on their own five-game winning streak. Like any tilt with the Bruins, it will either be really exciting, or over very quickly.
The Leafs should be well prepared for this game, especially after what happened last time. They’ve had a couple days rest to get ready for this one and should hopefully come out flying. To their credit, they’ve looked very good since that Bruins loss. The powerplay is clicking, the penalty kill is shutting teams down, and the team isn’t getting caved in possession wise. All good signs going in to tonight’s game.
The Leafs
Daniel Winnik slots back into the lineup as he’s apparently 100 percent symptom-free. Head issues are troublesome and I would’ve liked to see him get a few more days off personally. No real big changes to the lineup other than that.
Projected Lines via DailyFaceoff.com
van Riemsdyk – Bozak – Kessel
Winnik – Kadri – Clarkson
Komarov – Holland – Santorelli
Panik – Smith – Leivo
Phaneuf – Franson
Gardiner – Polak
Rielly – Robidas
The Bruins
The B’s are still missing Chara and Krejci, two big pieces in their lineup. Without them, they honestly don’t look that strong. This is a very beatable team and the Leafs need to take advantage of these kind of games. Also, somebody please tell me who Zach Trotman is because he doesn’t seem real.
Projected Lines via DailyFaceoff.com
Marchand – Bergeron – Smith
Lucic – Kelly – Griffith
Fraser – Soderberg – Eriksson
Paille – Campbell – Gagne
Seidenberg – Hamilton
Morrow – McQuaid
Krug – Trotman
Starting Goalies
Bernier gets the start tonight and with both goalies coming off weekend wins who cares? Alternating them is the best option for the Leafs and something they need to do when they have two goalies of this caliber.
The Bruins starter is a game-time decision according to Claude Julien. It’ll probably be Rask though, who has struggled to start the season posting a .909 save percentage. My hope is that he has a terrible game and we see some of this or this or this or this or this.
What To Watch For
- How high can Bergeron’s corsi get while playing predominantly against Bozak?
- How many times does the Phil Kessel trade get mentioned (over/under set at 7.5)
- The Leafs have 30 or more shots in four straight games, something they have never done with Randy Carlyle behind the bench.
- Something stupid that Milan Lucic will do, probably.
- Something stupid that I did, which was bet on the Leafs meaning they’ve already lost tonight.
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