LGD: Leafs take on Penguins

Okay, whatever. So the Leafs lost the first game. It’s in the past; 81-1-0 is still the best record in NHL history, and if 99.44 germ removal is good enough for some bathroom soaps, its good enough to be the Leafs’ year-end Corsi-for percentage. Tonight, the Leafs take on the Pittsburgh Penguins.

James van Riemsdyk – Tyler Bozak – Phil Kessel

Joffrey Lupul – Nazem Kadri – Brandon Kozun

Daniel Winnik – Peter Holland – Richard Panik

Leo Komarov – Mike Santorelli – David Clarkson

Dion Phaneuf – Stephane Robidas

Jake Gardiner – Morgan Rielly

Stuart Percy – Roman Polak

Not a shock. Lines basically stay the same, Panik replaces Matt Frattin. I would hope that the Leafs play the first line less if Kessel still looks like he’s nursing an injury.

Projected lines via DailyFaceoff.com

Chris Kunitz – Sidney Crosby – Patric Hornqvist

Pascal Dupuis – Brandon Sutter – Evgeni Malkin

Blake Comeau – Marcel Goc – Steve Downie

Zach Sill – Nick Spaling – Craig Adams

Christian Ehrhoff – Kris Letang

Olli Mattaa – Paul Martin

Rob Scuderi – Simon Despres

Another relatively unsurprising lineup, except for Malkin playing right wing. That’s a little different; you generally only see him playing on the wing while on the powerplay with Sidney Crosby, and even then, it’s on the left. I suppose the Penguins are allowing him more free reign to shoot while Sutter plays the responsible game.

Looks like Marc-Andre Fleury vs. Jonathan Bernier. To be honest, I’m not sure that it makes a lot of sense to start Bernier tonight, given James Reimer’s history of strong performances again the Penguins, and Bernier’s acknowledgement of occasional pains from last year’s injury. We’ll see how it plays out.