Will they or won’t they? In case they do play tonight, here’s the preview
By Jon Steitzer
4 years agoI’m gonna start this off with something that probably needs to be said. You are not a public health expert. I am not a public health expert. My apologies to any Infection Prevention and Control clinicians and researchers reading this. You are in fact an expert, but even you know that you don’t know everything about this pandemic. In the coming days there are going to be a lot of hot takes about how this isn’t any worse than the flu (it is worse), or how it’s just like SARS (breaking: not all pandemics are the same), and how people are overreacting (yes, if you ignore that reacting quickly is how you control these things.) I’d suggest that you ignore any and all takes regarding the science and medical side of things, and trust your health authority, who has you best interest and the interest of the public at heart.
Here’s the contact information for Ontario. Trust them.
Ontario Public Health or phone: 1-866-797-0000
Additionally we also have this…
You can guess where this is leading. If morning skates are too much of a risk, I’m not sure how you expect 19,000+ people to pour into an arena and cross contaminate each other. Don’t count on hockey tonight folks.
IF I’M WRONG…
This is another important game for the Leafs tonight, as they need to rebuild their gap over the Florida Panthers for 3rd in the Atlantic. And especially when the season could disappear at any moment, it’s also incredibly important that the Leafs maintain their Points% lead over the Panthers as well, given that is one of the discussed options if the season is cancelled and the playoff seeding needs to be determined through other means.
The Leafs are riding the high of having the return of Morgan Rielly, a solid outing for Freddie Andersen, and of course, the victory of the Lightning. It would be nice to see that energy continue and not just be a blip on the radar after an incredibly bad week in California.
As for the Predators, they are a playoff team if you go by Points% at the moment, but not so much if you go by actual points. They are equally desperate for the win, also considering the uncertain future.
| LW | C | RW |
|---|---|---|
 ZACH HYMAN |  AUSTON MATTHEWS |  WILLIAM NYLANDER |
 KASPERI KAPANEN |  JOHN TAVARES |  MITCH MARNER |
 PIERRE ENGVALL |  ALEXANDER KERFOOT |  DENIS MALGIN |
 KYLE CLIFFORD |  FREDERIK GAUTHIER |  JASON SPEZZA |
| DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS | |
|---|---|
 MORGAN RIELLY |  CODY CECI |
 TRAVIS DERMOTT |  JUSTIN HOLL |
 RASMUS SANDIN |  TYSON BARRIE |
Going with the same lineup makes sense for the Leafs, as it delivered on everything required on Tuesday night. No change in status for Mikheyev or Muzzin, which isn’t a particular surprise and nothing new is likely happening there until late March.
On the off chance that we do see hockey tonight, boy would it be nice to see an Auston Matthews hat trick, as getting him to 50 goals is something I truly wanted to see. At the very least hopefully he scores enough to at least pull even we with Pastrnak for the league lead and he can stake claim to the Rocket Richard.
The Panthers also are scheduled to play tonight against the Dallas Stars. So hopefully that too can help with creating a buffer in the standings, but the Leafs getting help from the Panthers seems to have gone away.
Alas, this is probably it for game coverage for a little while. Stay safe, don’t panic, and remember that even if you aren’t impacted, that doesn’t mean what’s happening isn’t a big deal. We’ll do our best to give you plenty of Leafs things to discuss on this site, in what could be an extended offseason or an Olympic break minus the Olympics.
If the game is played tonight it will start at 7pm and be seen on TSN 4.
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