LGD: One game away from being one game away
7 years ago
When’s the last time you had this much fun watching playoff hockey? And by fun, I mean how often do you check your vital signs while watching these games?
The Leafs head into game four of their first round series against the best regular season team in the league with a 2-1 lead and at least one more home game (tonight).
It’s been a wild series, with just one goal separating the two teams in a series that has seen an average of more than one overtime per game.
If you could find a tighter set of three games, they’ve probably been manufactured.
The Leafs
| LW | C | RW |
|---|---|---|
 Zach Hyman |  Auston Matthews |  William Nylander |
 Leo Komarov |  Nazem Kadri |  Connor Brown |
 James van Riemsdyk |  Tyler Bozak |  Mitchell Marner |
 Matt Martin |  Brian Boyle |  Kasperi Kapanen |
| Defensive Pairings | |
|---|---|
 Matt Hunwick |  Morgan Rielly |
 Jake Gardiner |  Nikita Zaitsev |
 Martin Marincin |  Connor Carrick |
It’s been the same lineup for a long time, save for the lack of Polak. I have no new takes, other than they’ve played pretty well so far this series.
The Capitals
| LW | C | RW |
|---|---|---|
 Alex Ovechkin |  Nicklas Backstrom |  T.J. Oshie |
 Marcus Johansson |  Evgeny Kuznetsov |  Justin Williams |
 Brett Connolly |  Lars Eller |  Andre Burakovsky |
 Daniel Winnik |  Jay Beagle |  Tom Wilson |
| Defensive Pairings | |
|---|---|
 Nate Schmidt |  John Carlson |
 Dmitri Orlov |  Matt Niskanen |
 Brooks Orpik |  Kevin Shattenkirk |
Pending UFA, and future Toronto Maple Leaf (at least according to one TSN member) Karl Alzner also appears to be out for tonight’s game.
Starting goalies
Holtby vs. Andersen tonight. No surprise.
106 saves, 116 shots vs. 111 saves, 120 shots. Is goaltending the difference in this series? Probably not, at least not yet.
106 saves, 116 shots vs. 111 saves, 120 shots. Is goaltending the difference in this series? Probably not, at least not yet.
Holtby did go down today in practice, but it sounds like he’ll still be starting tonight.
Where to watch
CBC, 7 pm, if you’re not lucky enough to make it into the ACC (or at least Maple Leaf Square).
Recent articles from Adam Laskaris
