Some interesting new lines from the #leafs: Hyman-Matthews-Brown Marleau-Kadri-Marner Johnsson-Plekanec-Nylander JVR-Bozak-Kapanen
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LGD: Leafs Entering Elimination Nation
By Ryan Hobart
Apr 21, 2018, 13:55 EDTUpdated: Apr 21, 2018, 13:58 EDT
Tonight the whole season hangs in the balance for the Maple Leafs. Game 5 tonight against the Bruins, and a loss means heading to the golf course in this (finally) nice-ish weather.
The puck drop is at 8 p.m. Eastern, not 7 p.m. for some reason. The game tonight can’t be understated, but at the same time the criticality is obvious.
Leafs Lines
With Nazem Kadri’s return to the lineup, and the lack of production from Auston Matthews and William Nylander, Mike Babcock has decided to shake things up:
| DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS | |
|---|---|
 MORGAN RIELLY Rating: 75.7#24 LD |  RON HAINSEY Rating: 72.3#53 RD |
 JAKE GARDINER Rating: 76.2#20 LD |  NIKITA ZAITSEV Rating: 72.0#58 RD |
 TRAVIS DERMOTT Rating: 72.4#55 LD |  ROMAN POLAK Rating: 70.2#89 RD |
| GOALIES | |
|---|---|
 FREDERIK ANDERSEN Rating: 75.3#14 G1 |  CURTIS MCELHINNEY Rating: 70.2#53 G2 |
The balance of scoring lines here is hopefully enough to nullify the Bruins’ line matching advantage at home. This lineup seems setup up such that any of the four lines can match up well enough with Bergeron’s line, though Bozak’s line is definitely one the Leafs won’t prefer to use. Either way, the key here is that all four of these lines needs to be doing everything they can to score goals, and not spend the whole game worrying about who has Bergeron, Pastrnak and Marchand covered.
It should be noted that Leo Komarov is a healthy scratch for this game, as is Matt Martin.
Bruins Lines
Patrice Bergeron missed Game 4 in Toronto, but the lines from Daily Faceoff assume he’s playing, and he appeared in the line rushes this morning for Boston, so that seems a safe assumption.
| LW | C | RW |
|---|---|---|
 BRAD MARCHAND Rating: 85.6#2 LW |  PATRICE BERGERON Rating: 85.2#4 C |  DAVID PASTRNAK Rating: 84.1#4 RW |
 JAKE DEBRUSK Rating: 75.0#35 LW |  DAVID KREJCI Rating: 75.6#39 C |  RICK NASH Rating: 74.8#34 RW |
 DANTON HEINEN Rating: 73.9#45 LW |  RILEY NASH Rating: 72.6#84 C |  DAVID BACKES Rating: 73.3#68 RW |
 TIM SCHALLER Rating: 70.4#107 LW |  SEAN KURALY Rating: 70.9#125 C |  NOEL ACCIARI Rating: 69.6#116 RW |
| DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS |
|---|
Rating: 77.0#14 LD
Rating: 75.7#23 RD
Rating: 80.9#2 LD
Rating: 73.9#35 RD
Rating: 72.2#61 LD
Rating: 72.1#56 RD
| GOALIES | |
|---|---|
 TUUKKA RASK Rating: 73.9#22 G1 |  ANTON KHUDOBIN Rating: 68.8#59 G2 |
Preview
This Game 5 will depend on a few things for the Leafs:
- Kadri’s revenge has to come on the scoreboard and not on the penalty sheet
- Matthews is going to have to do a lot by himself on his line, but perhaps that pressure is what he needs
- All four lines need to be rolling and scoring. Put pressure on the weaker points of this group, and don’t let them dump and chase and kill time while waiting for Bergeron’s line to be rested.
- If those things don’t happen, Andersen needs to finally step up and steal a game for the Leafs
An interesting idea I’m hoping the Leafs pursue is using Tomas Plekanec as a switch-a-roo option for Auston Matthews, similar to what Randy Carlyle did with Matt Frattin and Phil Kessel in the 2013 playoffs. Let Adam McQuaid and Matt Grzelcyk think they’re facing the Leafs’ fourth line and then, boom, all of a sudden Johnsson, Matthews and Nylander are in front of Rask creating dangerous chances. We may not see it, but it would be cool if we did.
Breaking News
- The remaining items on Maple Leafs’ to-do list
- Forget Claude Giroux—The Leafs should target Patrick Kane: Leafs Morning Take
- Maple Leafs hire Daniel Alfredsson as associate head coach, John Gruden and Brad Werenka as assistants
- Jim Hiller tasked with balancing Maple Leafs’ versatility and lineup chemistry
- How the need for speed informed the Maple Leafs’ free agency class