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LGD: Win and you’re in

Photo credit: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports

By Adam Laskaris

Apr 6, 2017, 11:59 EDT

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The Toronto Maple Leafs are two points away from making the playoffs in an 82-game season for the first time since 2004. Somewhat fittingly, Tampa Bay won the Stanley Cup that season. Unlike Tuesday night where they needed a Tampa Bay Lightning loss (they did) as well as a victory of their own (they didn’t), the Leafs now control their own destiny and can both earn a little “x” next to their name in the standings if they can find a way to win the game tonight. And oh yeah, they also have the opportunity to knock out the Tampa Bay Lightning if the Bolts earn anything less than a regulation or overtime win.

The Leafs are 2-1 this season against the Lightning, coming back with 3-2 and 5-0 wins after a 7-3 loss in their first matchup of the season.

Leafs fans will also be keeping their eyes on the Islanders/Hurricanes matchup, though it could end up having no meaning at all if they’re just able to pull through in this one.

The Leafs

Lines courtesy of DailyFaceoff.com

LW	C	RW
Zach Hyman	Auston Matthews	William Nylander
Leo Komarov	Nazem Kadri	Connor Brown
James van Riemsdyk	Tyler Bozak	Mitchell Marner
Matt Martin	Brian Boyle	Kasperi Kapanen

Defensive Pairings
Morgan Rielly	Connor Carrick
Jake Gardiner	Nikita Zaitsev
Matt Hunwick	Roman Polak

Brian Boyle is back against his former team, which is nice considering he left Tuesday’s game with an injury. Josh Leivo and Nikita Soshnikov remain injured, lowering the game total of Nikita’s to 2 and Josh’s to 0. Other than that, the Leafs are healthy through the rest of their lineup, and ice what’s one of their strongest contingents of the year.

The Lightning

Lines courtesy of DailyFaceoff.com

Ondrej Palat	Brayden Point	Nikita Kucherov
Adam Erne	Tyler Johnson	Vladislav Namestnikov
Alex Killorn	Yanni Gourde	Jonathan Drouin
????????????? ????????????? ????????????	Greg McKegg	Joel Vermin

Defensive Pairings
Victor Hedman	Jake Dotchin
Anton Stralman	Luke Witkowski
Braydon Coburn	Andrej Sustr

So, a goal for Gregg McKegg and Anton Stralman tonight? I feel like I make the same joke every night, but I also feel like the Leafs play former members of their team every night.

Steven Stamkos, Ryan Callahan, Jason Garrison and Cedric Paquette remain injured. Steven Stamkos remains “not a Maple Leaf,” and also is very likely to add “not on a playoff team” to his resume for this year.

Between the Pipes

Frederik Andersen starts for his most important game yet as a Leaf, while it’s likely Andrei Vasilevskiy will be in the net for the Bolts. Andersen has a .919 save percentage and a 33-15-14 record, while the 22-year old Tampa goalie has a .915 save percentage to go with a 20-17-7 record.