The Leafs (10-7-0) are home for the third straight game as they look for a third straight win. They’ll have to get through the Boston Bruins (6-5-3) to do so.

It’s the first game of a home-and-home, with the Leafs and Bruins slated to square off again tomorrow night at TD Garden. The Leafs swept last year’s season series against the Bruins, helping to push the image of the Bruins as the Boogeymen further and further out of Leafs fans’ minds.

Leafs Lines

LW	C	RW
LEO KOMAROV	NAZEM KADRI	WILLIAM NYLANDER
JAMES VAN RIEMSDYK	PATRICK MARLEAU	ZACH HYMAN
CONNOR BROWN	TYLER BOZAK	MITCH MARNER
MATT MARTIN	DOMINIC MOORE	JOSH LEIVO

DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS
MORGAN RIELLY	RON HAINSEY
JAKE GARDINER	NIKITA ZAITSEV
ANDREAS BORGMAN	CONNOR CARRICK

Auston Matthews remains day-to-day, so assuming he is unable to go, the Leafs will likely be rolling the same lines. Connor Carrick remains in after potting his first goal of the season last game, and Josh Leivo makes back-to-back appearances for the first time since February(!). Jake Gardiner, who missed practice yesterday for a maintenance day, is no worse for wear.

Bruins Lines

LW	C	RW
ANDERS BJORK	PATRICE BERGERON	DAVID PASTRNAK
TIM SCHALLER	SEAN KURALY	DANTON HEINEN
MATT BELESKEY	RILEY NASH	AUSTIN CZARNIK
JAKE DEBRUSK	JORDAN SZWARZ	FRANK VATRANO

DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS
ZDENO CHARA	CHARLIE MCAVOY
TOREY KRUG	BRANDON CARLO
ROB O’GARA	KEVAN MILLER

I highly encourage any Leafs fans lamenting Matthews being day-to-day to take a gander at this lineup. Also, bring a barf bag with you when you do, because wow is that an ugly group up front.

Ryan Spooner, David Krejci, Adam McQuaid, and David Backes are all out for Boston. Noel Acciari and Brad Marchand are game-time decisions. Marchand has been out with a concussion, but is close to returning, so there’s one situation that could make this lineup look a little more threatening. The point still stands that this is a very beaten up team that the Leafs should be able to handle.

Starting Goalies

Expect Anton Khudobin and Frederik Andersen to get the nods for their respective teams tonight, with Rask getting in at home tomorrow, according to Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy. Khudobin is undefeated in regulation this season, with a 3-0-1 record and a .926 save percentage. The Leafs will look to put a dent in his early successes tonight.

Andersen has been dominant ever since his flub against Vegas on Monday, coming in clutch to help push the Leafs to victory against Minnesota last game. Despite missing practice yesterday, it appears to have just been a maintenance day, and he’ll be good to go.

Notes

Mitch Marner has looked rejuvenated since scoring the shootout winner on Monday, and now would be as good a time as any to score a goal and start contributing on the scoresheet again. He badly needs that monkey off of back.
The Leafs are undefeated against Boston during the Auston Matthews era. Let’s hope that streak continues, even if our savior is resting in the press box and eating sushi.

Puck drop is at 7pm Eastern. You can catch this one on TSN4.