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LGD: Staal-ed

By Jon Steitzer

Feb 25, 2016, 15:02 ESTUpdated:

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It’s another day on the slow march to the trade deadline. After that, I’m not sure what we have for the final month and a half, but I hope it’s filled with interesting prospect assessments, and a resurgence in the Oilers that clinches the Leafs the 30th overall position.

Tonight, we’ll focus on getting the Canes a win. While I understand actively cheering against the Leafs is in poor taste, a Canes win tonight keeps them in the playoff hunt and possibly keeps players like Eric Staal from clogging the seller’s market that the Leafs are looking to exploit.

The Leafs

The kids continue to be the draw for the Leafs. Leivo and Leipsic are reasons for optimism, and Loov and Percy aren’t really out of place as a Leafs bottom pairing either.

Really not a whole lot say here, I hope the scouts in attendance see something in this one game that inspires their teams to overpay for P.A. Parenteau.

Lineup via Dailyfaceoff.com

LW	C	RW
Michael Grabner	Nazem Kadri	Brendan Leipsic
Josh Leivo	Peter Holland	P.A. Parenteau
Daniel Winnik	Mark Arcobello	Brad Boyes
Colin Greening	Byron Froese	Richard Clune

Defensive Pairings
Martin Marincin	Morgan Rielly
Jake Gardiner	Frank Corrado
Viktor Loov	Stuart Percy

The Canes

As I mentioned in the intro, the Canes are doing just well enough that they can’t pull the plug on the season. They’ll need to sell tickets down the stretch and even if failed close call on the playoffs will be a better financial decision for them than selling off assets.

Whether any of that translates to motivation for the players, I don’t know, but as long as they don’t knock the Penguins out of their playoff spot, I can’t say I’m concerned about where they end up.

Lineup via Dailyfaceoff.com

LW	C	RW
Elias Lindholm	Eric Staal	Victor Rask
Joakim Nordstrom	Jordan Staal	Andrej Nestrasil
Jeff Skinner	Riley Nash	Kris Versteeg
Chris Terry	Jay McClement	Phil Di Giuseppe

Defensive Pairings
Noah Hanifin	Justin Faulk
Jaccob Slavin	Ron Hainsey
John-Michael Liles	Brett Pesce

Starting Goaltenders

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CAM WARD

VS.
JONATHAN BERNIER

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What to Watch For…

Which lucky Leaf gets to wear an ‘A’ on their jersey tonight
How does Kadri carry the team this game?
How does Kris Versteeg respond to returning to the arena where he was the unfortunate victim of having his car written on in dust?
Maybe they’ll show Lou on the phone and we can feel like something that matters is gonna happen.

Place Your Bets With Sports Interaction!

While you watch tonight’s game and follow along with the action on The Leafs Nation, why not get into the action by placing a prop bet with Sports Interaction? Licensed and regulated in Canada, Sports Interaction is a fun, safe and legal way to bet on all of your favourite hockey action.

Here’s today’s featured bet: To Score A Goal – Nazem Kadri

I (and by I, I mean Jeff, who has hijacked the end of this pregame) feel there’s a good chance that Kadri snaps his goal goalless drought tonight. The centreman reversed a five-game pointless streak with two consecutive games of two assists against Philadelphia and Nashville, and has been dangerously close to scoring throughout. Cam Ward isn’t what he once was, and Kadri snapped his early-season drought against him in November:

The odds are 4.45 to 1 on him scoring, and 1.17 to 1 on him failing to do so. There’s some potential there. Have fun, and remember to gamble responsibly!