LGD: Nylander who? Leafs enter the Wild
By Ryan Hobart
5 years agoAs surprising as it may be, there’s actually something else for us to talk about today besides the Nylander signing or not signing. The Leafs are in Minnesota tonight to take on the Wild.
Minnesota has been doing rwell thus far this season, even sitting near the top of a hotly contested Central Division for a time. For now, they are in 4th in that division, 5 points back of the Predators and Avalanche.
Led by the two monster contracts signed in 2011, Zach Parise and Ryan Suter, the Wild are holding their own against very tough competition.
The Leafs find themselves in a similar dogfight of a division, with the Sabres surging forward and the always excellent Tampa Bay Lightning, who are each tied for points atop the league.
Tonight’s competition will certainly be a tight one, as the Leafs try to focus on the game at hand instead of their teammate’s contract situation.
Leafs Lines
It’s expected that we’ll see the exact same group of players that earned a win on Wednesday night against the Sharks. It’s hard to argue for changing much when the team has been performing so strongly. The group includes Tyler Ennis, who played for the Wild last season.
One change though is that we’ll see Andreas Johnsson bumped off of the Matthews line and onto the Kadri line, presumably because of the excellent defensive play he’s been displaying lately, and to try to keep Patrick Marleau scoring.
| LW | C | RW | Forwards |
|---|---|---|---|
 ZACH HYMAN Rating: 73.2#56 LW |  JOHN TAVARES Rating: 81.3#12 C |  MITCH MARNER Rating: 79.2#12 RW | FL1 Rating Rating: 77.89#15 FL1 |
 PATRICK MARLEAU Rating: 74.0#43 LW |  AUSTON MATTHEWS Rating: 84.3#6 C |  KASPERI KAPANEN Rating: 73.8#43 RW | FL2 Rating Rating: 77.39#5 FL2 |
 ANDREAS JOHNSSON Rating: 73.9#46 LW |  NAZEM KADRI Rating: 77.0#35 C |  CONNOR BROWN Rating: 69.8#108 RW | FL3 Rating Rating: 73.55#3 FL3 |
 TYLER ENNIS Rating: 70.9#96 LW |  PAR LINDHOLM Rating: 72.3#106 C |  JOSH LEIVO Rating: 73.0#56 RW | FL4 Rating Rating: 72.05#6 FL4 |
| DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS | Defense | |
|---|---|---|
 MORGAN RIELLY Rating: 79.2#6 LD |  RON HAINSEY Rating: 73.5#38 RD | DL1 Rating Rating: 76.33#10 DL1 |
 JAKE GARDINER Rating: 76.3#17 LD |  NIKITA ZAITSEV Rating: 71.3#80 RD | DL2 Rating Rating: 73.81#13 DL2 |
 TRAVIS DERMOTT Rating: 74.5#29 LD |  IGOR OZHIGANOV Rating: 72.8#43 RD | DL3 Rating Rating: 73.65#2 DL3 |
| GOALIES | |
|---|---|
 FREDERIK ANDERSEN Rating: 77.7#9 G1 |  GARRET SPARKS Rating: 70.2#43 G2 |
Wild Lines
Former Leafs Eric Fehr and (technically) Greg Pateryn are featured on this Wild team. The lineup itself is as blah as the Wild have always been. The Leafs will probably continue to struggle to contain Eric Staal, as they always have, scoring 50 points in 45 games against them.
| LW | C | RW | Forwards |
|---|---|---|---|
 ZACH PARISE Rating: 76.0#32 LW |  MIKKO KOIVU Rating: 75.1#48 C |  NINO NIEDERREITER Rating: 74.2#35 RW | FL1 Rating Rating: 75.08#26 FL1 |
 JASON ZUCKER Rating: 77.9#19 LW |  ERIC STAAL Rating: 81.7#10 C |  MIKAEL GRANLUND Rating: 79.1#26 RW | FL2 Rating Rating: 79.55#2 FL2 |
 JORDAN GREENWAY Rating: 72.3#76 LW |  JOEL ERIKSSON EK Rating: 70.9#144 C |  CHARLIE COYLE Rating: 71.8#119 RW | FL3 Rating Rating: 71.65#14 FL3 |
 MARCUS FOLIGNO Rating: 69.9#111 LW |  ERIC FEHR Rating: 70.7#97 C |  J.T. BROWN Rating: 68.4#118 RW | FL4 Rating Rating: 69.68#28 FL4 |
| DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS | Defense | |
|---|---|---|
 RYAN SUTER Rating: 79.7#5 LD |  JARED SPURGEON Rating: 78.1#16 RD | DL1 Rating Rating: 78.93#2 DL1 |
 JONAS BRODIN Rating: 74.3#34 LD |  MATHEW DUMBA Rating: 79.2#13 RD | DL2 Rating Rating: 76.75#2 DL2 |
 NICK SEELER Rating: 72.2#63 LD |  GREG PATERYN Rating: 71.9#60 RD | DL3 Rating Rating: 72.09#12 DL3 |
| GOALIES | |
|---|---|
 DEVAN DUBNYK Rating: 72.1#34 G1 |  ALEX STALOCK Rating: 69.3#53 G2 |
Game Preview
Tonight’s game starts at 7 p.m. and will probably be a barn burner, so make sure you don’t miss it. As always on Saturday, we’ll see you for Hockey Night in Canada on CBC for this game. Go Leafs Go!
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