Fresh off a 5-0 win over the Vancouver Canucks, Michael Hutchinson’s Toronto Maple Leafs face a steeper challenge tonight as they welcome the Nashville Predators to Scotiabank Arena.

The Preds are in town for the only time this season. Nashville and Toronto have been neck-and-neck at the top of the league’s standings for most of the season, though the Leafs’ gap has widened of late. The Leafs sit second in the NHL, three points up on the Predators with a couple of games in hand to boot. Nashville has had a rough go of it recently, but have battled back from a stretch of six straight games without a win to win three of their last four.

Leafs Lines

LW	C	RW	Forwards
CONNOR BROWN Rating: 70.4#111 LW	JOHN TAVARES Rating: 83.0#10 C	MITCH MARNER Rating: 80.9#6 RW	FL1 Rating Rating: 78.09#12 FL1
ANDREAS JOHNSSON Rating: 74.3#38 LW	AUSTON MATTHEWS Rating: 84.4#6 C	WILLIAM NYLANDER Rating: 75.0#38 RW	FL2 Rating Rating: 77.88#3 FL2
PATRICK MARLEAU Rating: 72.5#75 LW	NAZEM KADRI Rating: 76.6#40 C	KASPERI KAPANEN Rating: 73.5#52 RW	FL3 Rating Rating: 74.19#7 FL3
PAR LINDHOLM Rating: 71.8#89 LW	FREDERIK GAUTHIER Rating: 69.9#170 C	TREVOR MOORE Rating: 73.7#48 RW	FL4 Rating Rating: 71.77#5 FL4

DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS	Defense
MORGAN RIELLY Rating: 80.0#4 LD	RON HAINSEY Rating: 72.5#44 RD	DL1 Rating Rating: 76.25#10 DL1
JAKE GARDINER Rating: 77.3#10 LD	NIKITA ZAITSEV Rating: 70.8#78 RD	DL2 Rating Rating: 74.02#12 DL2
TRAVIS DERMOTT Rating: 73.7#41 LD	IGOR OZHIGANOV Rating: 71.7#61 RD	DL3 Rating Rating: 72.67#10 DL3

Nothing changes here. There was some early speculation that Zach Hyman might make his return to the lineup, but it would seem he will remain sidelined. Hyman last played on December 18th.

Preds Lines

LW	C	RW	Forwards
CALLE JARNKROK Rating: 73.0#79 LW	RYAN JOHANSEN Rating: 76.7#38 C	VIKTOR ARVIDSSON Rating: 79.6#14 RW	FL1 Rating Rating: 76.42#19 FL1
KEVIN FIALA Rating: 76.0#28 LW	COLTON SISSONS Rating: 73.4#68 C	CRAIG SMITH Rating: 75.0#37 RW	FL2 Rating Rating: 74.82#9 FL2
RYAN HARTMAN Rating: 72.8#66 LW	NICK BONINO Rating: 72.0#114 C	AUSTIN WATSON Rating: 71.5#92 RW	FL3 Rating Rating: 72.07#18 FL3
ZAC RINALDO Rating: 68.0#133 LW	FREDERICK GAUDREAU Rating: 70.2#161 C	ROCCO GRIMALDI Rating: 73.6#51 RW	FL4 Rating Rating: 70.60#16 FL4

DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS	Defense
ROMAN JOSI Rating: 81.6#1 LD	RYAN ELLIS Rating: 79.8#9 RD	DL1 Rating Rating: 80.72#1 DL1
DAN HAMHUIS Rating: 71.7#77 LD	MATTIAS EKHOLM Rating: 78.2#8 RD	DL2 Rating Rating: 74.95#6 DL2
MATT IRWIN Rating: 71.5#83 LD	P.K. SUBBAN Rating: 80.2#8 RD	DL3 Rating Rating: 75.86#2 DL3

If you couldn’t guess, this Predators team isn’t exactly a scoring juggernaut – and injuries to Kyle Turris and Filip Forsberg aren’t helping the offensive side of things.

Still, the back end remains stupid good, and who ever said that Defense First was a bad thing?

Starting Goalies

In one corner, Michael Hutchinson. He’s an .879 on the season, but a .935 with a 1-1-0 record as a Toronto Maple Leaf. You choose which to put stock into.

In the other corner, Pekka Rinne is enjoying a strong season with a .919 save percentage. Not quite as good as Hutchinson during his Leafs tenure, but you can’t exactly fault the guy.

Notes

Tonight marks the first half of a back-to-back, with the Leafs on the road in New Jersey tomorrow. The goalie situation might get interesting.
Craig Smith is the Predators’ leading goal scorer, with 14 goals on the season. We live in a society.

Puck Drop is at 7pm ET on Sportsnet Ontario

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Leafs Lines

Preds Lines

Starting Goalies

Notes

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