THE LEAFS

LW	C	RW
ZACH HYMAN Rating: 72.4#107 LW	AUSTON MATTHEWS Rating: 81.7#10 C	WILLIAM NYLANDER Rating: 76.3#23 RW
PATRICK MARLEAU Rating: 74.0#41 LW	NAZEM KADRI Rating: 78.1#30 C	MITCH MARNER Rating: 76.0#46 RW
JAMES VAN RIEMSDYK Rating: 79.5#8 LW	TYLER BOZAK Rating: 74.1#70 C	CONNOR BROWN Rating: 71.0#75 RW
ANDREAS JOHNSSON	TOMAS PLEKANEC Rating: 71.3#141 C	KASPERI KAPANEN Rating: 71.6#61 RW

DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS
MORGAN RIELLY Rating: 76.8#36 LD	RON HAINSEY Rating: 72.5#114 RD
JAKE GARDINER Rating: 76.3#39 LD	NIKITA ZAITSEV Rating: 72.8#99 RD
TRAVIS DERMOTT Rating: 73.7#72 LD	ROMAN POLAK Rating: 70.1#220 RD

Now that Matthews is back, this matchup is even more lopsided – which didn’t seem possible, and could make for some reasonably unwatchable hockey.

It’s good to see #34 back, and he kicked off his return after a month-long absence with a goal, four shots, and a pretty decent night in the faceoff circle. Against a top line boasting Tyler Bertuzzi, he should only continue his return to contributing excellence in tonight’s game.

The real player to watch, though, has undoubtedly been James van Riemsdyk. At this point, he’s only fourth on the team in scoring – but over the last few weeks, he’s been completely unstoppable. He’s playing for a contract, and it shows.

THE RED WINGS

LW	C	RW
TYLER BERTUZZI Rating: 71.1#85 LW	HENRIK ZETTERBERG Rating: 74.4#37 C	GUSTAV NYQUIST Rating: 74.1#74 RW
DARREN HELM Rating: 70.7#159 LW	DYLAN LARKIN Rating: 75.1#61 C	ANTHONY MANTHA Rating: 74.0#35 RW
ANDREAS ATHANASIOU Rating: 74.4#66 LW	FRANS NIELSEN Rating: 72.6#103 C	JUSTIN ABDELKADER Rating: 70.1#107 RW
MARTIN FRK Rating: 71.8#59 LW	LUKE GLENDENING Rating: 69.5#191 C	EVGENY SVECHNIKOV Rating: 72.7#58 RW

DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS
JONATHAN ERICSSON Rating: 69.7#228 LD	TREVOR DALEY Rating: 72.3#117 RD
DAN DEKEYSER Rating: 70.6#201 LD	NICK JENSEN Rating: 71.0#185 RD
NIKLAS KRONWALL Rating: 71.2#180 LD	LUKE WITKOWSKI Rating: 67.9#115 RD

Honestly, what is there to even say about this?

Henrik Zetterberg is centering Tyler Bertuzzi and Gustav Nyquist, who has a whopping 34 points this year. Danny DeKeyser and his never-ending contract are on the second pairing (woof), while Niklas Kronwall’s age shows with his bottom-pairing position. Oh, and Mike Green is out with neck surgery, so that’s also a thing.

STARTING GOALIES

NOTES

• While the Red Wings look to avoid dropping 12 of 13 games here down the back stretch, Toronto will be looking to set a franchise record with a 13th straight home victory – no pressure or anything, though. At the very worst, they’ll take it easy against a Detroit team looking to throw hits and desperately get another point or two out of their season, but likely it’s going to be a record-setting night for the home team at the Air Canada Centre.
• It’s time to face off against an old friend again, as Mike Babcock can now comfortably look back at his old club as they sit right where the Leafs were when he was brought on board to turn things around. The year before he made his coaching debut in Toronto, the Leafs went into an absolute free-fall to go from a contending playoff spot in early December to the second-worst team in the Eastern Conference by the end of the year – largely on the merit of a now-familiar stretch for Detroit when they went 1-11-1 in January. Now, the Leafs are where the Red Wings were when Babcock left, sitting in a playoff position – but whereas Detroit had been on the precipice of their current plummet, Toronto is just beginning. Has to feel pretty good.
• After their last game, Red Wings captain Henrik Zetterberg had some harsh words about ‘learning to play the right way’ for the younger guys on the team. Which, whether he’s right or not, absolutely shows just how frustrated the team is right now; if he isn’t able to control his comments about the players that will likely be on the team when he’s finally gone, that says everything you need to know about how the entire team is feeling right now.
  

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