Maple Leafs Pregame #27: 5 Things to watch for against Buffalo
By Jon Steitzer
4 years agoIt’s safe to say it’s already been a successful road trip. They stranded Mike Babcock at the side of the Grand Canyon, and the Leafs managed to double their road win total for the season. Now they are in Buffalo, which doesn’t sound like fun, but given that the Sabres are struggling it’s a chance for the good times to continue.
Lineups
| LW | C | RW | Forwards |
|---|---|---|---|
 ANDREAS JOHNSSON Rating: 73.0#64 LW |  AUSTON MATTHEWS Rating: 81.3#5 C |  WILLIAM NYLANDER Rating: 74.7#30 RW | FL1 Rating Rating: 76.34#11 FL1 |
 ILYA MIKHEYEV Rating: 74.5#39 LW |  JOHN TAVARES Rating: 78.2#16 C |  ZACH HYMAN Rating: 73.6#63 RW | FL2 Rating Rating: 75.42#7 FL2 |
 NIC PETAN Rating: 71.9#110 LW |  JASON SPEZZA Rating: 71.8#114 C |  KASPERI KAPANEN Rating: 73.1#62 RW | FL3 Rating Rating: 72.24#12 FL3 |
 PIERRE ENGVALL Rating: 73.9#45 LW |  FREDERIK GAUTHIER Rating: 68.7#181 C |  DMYTRO TIMASHOV Rating: 72.5#74 RW | FL4 Rating Rating: 71.71#12 FL4 |
| DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS | Defense | |
|---|---|---|
 MORGAN RIELLY Rating: 75.8#13 LD |  CODY CECI Rating: 71.6#83 RD | DL1 Rating Rating: 73.71#24 DL1 |
 JAKE MUZZIN Rating: 75.5#18 LD |  JUSTIN HOLL Rating: 73.9#35 RD | DL2 Rating Rating: 74.69#10 DL2 |
 TRAVIS DERMOTT Rating: 72.9#66 LD |  TYSON BARRIE Rating: 76.6#12 RD | DL3 Rating Rating: 74.74#1 DL3 |
| LW | C | RW | Forwards |
|---|---|---|---|
 VICTOR OLOFSSON Rating: 74.2#42 LW |  JACK EICHEL Rating: 80.6#8 C |  SAM REINHART Rating: 75.0#24 RW | FL1 Rating Rating: 76.58#8 FL1 |
 JIMMY VESEY Rating: 71.6#98 LW |  CASEY MITTELSTADT Rating: 70.6#152 C |  MARCUS JOHANSSON Rating: 72.4#76 RW | FL2 Rating Rating: 71.53#30 FL2 |
 JEFF SKINNER Rating: 76.0#25 LW |  JOHAN LARSSON Rating: 69.8#162 C |  CONOR SHEARY Rating: 72.3#79 RW | FL3 Rating Rating: 72.72#8 FL3 |
 ZEMGUS GIRGENSONS Rating: 71.1#135 LW |  RASMUS ASPLUND Rating: 73.4#72 C |  JEAN-SEBASTIEN DEA Rating: 73.3#59 RW | FL4 Rating Rating: 72.57#3 FL4 |
| DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS | Defense | |
|---|---|---|
 JAKE MCCABE Rating: 71.7#91 LD |  ZACH BOGOSIAN Rating: 71.9#79 RD | DL1 Rating Rating: 71.80#30 DL1 |
 BRANDON MONTOUR Rating: 74.8#30 LD |  RASMUS RISTOLAINEN Rating: 73.0#50 RD | DL2 Rating Rating: 73.91#18 DL2 |
 MARCO SCANDELLA Rating: 71.7#90 LD |  HENRI JOKIHARJU Rating: 72.0#15 RD | DL3 Rating Rating: 71.88#21 DL3 |
It’s hard to believe the Sabres started losing again with that lineup.
Anyways, here’s 5 things to watch for…
1. Michael Hutchinson returns
Hutch is back! And he’s playing in the first game of a back to back.
While I don’t think this is the glorious slap in the face of Mike Babcock that people were hoping for, but rather a few different things.
- Letting Hutchinson play in a slightly different situation
- Giving Andersen the home start on Saturday after a long trip and in what will be Keefe’s home debut
- They play tomorrow night against Buffalo too. They’ll be just as tired and the odds of winning should be the same in both games.
Hopefully Hutchinson shows some promise tonight, and we can believe that the backup goaltending situation isn’t as dire as we thought it was before.
2. The Rielly/Ceci pairing
It’s still a thing, and it’s still upsetting. Luckily the Leafs have three very balanced pairings at the moment, and it should no longer be about giving Rielly and Ceci the tough assignments, and they can just roll on through.
3. Same lineup as against Detroit
It’s interesting to see that Nick Shore is remaining the odd man out and that Nic Petan is still rolling with the third line. I don’t know how interesting any of this is, but I’m still hoping that Nic Petan breaks out.
4. I’d like to see more of that Johnsson
Andreas Johnsson had a great game Wednesday against Detroit, and wouldn’t it be nice to see him continuing to keep up with Matthews and Nylander.
Johnsson is now back on track to match his totals from last season.
5. He’s Barrie good
Let the goal streak continue.
Game time is 4PM ET on TSN4
Recent articles from Jon Steitzer
