Did Pittsburgh move into the Atlantic or something? Why are we always playing them?
Toronto Maple Leafs @ Pittsburgh Penguins
07:00 PM at PPG Paints Arena
Watch on: NHLN, CBC, TVAS, SN, CITY, ATTSN-PT
Opponent’s Site: PensBurgh
The Leafs last game was an away game on November 25 against the Minnesota Wild, which Toronto won by a score of 4-3. The Leafs have a record of 12-5-5 so far.
The Pittsburgh Penguins last played an away game on November 25 against the Philadelphia Flyers. The Penguins won by a score of 4-1, and their current league record is 11-7-3.
The Leafs play the Penguins for the third time, so there’s not a lot of mystery here. Evgeni Malkin is a force, and if they’re goalie is on, they can wipe the ice with you. They aren’t really a top echelon team, but they are a dangerous one.
Them
They haven’t been changing lines much, and they played Friday as well, and away, so they are likely to put out a similar lineup.
Lines
Source: Danny Shirey via Daily Faceoff
Jake Guentzel – Sidney Crosby – Rickard Rakell
Jason Zucker – Evgeni Malkin – Bryan Rust
Brock McGinn – Jeff Carter – Danton Heinen
Ryan Poehling – Teddy Blueger – Josh Archibald
Marcus Pettersson – Kris Letang
Pierre-Olivier Joseph – Jeff Petry
Brian Dumoulin – Jan Rutta
Casey DeSmith
Tristan Jarry
Us
The Leafs are unlikely to be importing and deporting players from and to Toronto, so the roster is the roster, but they may move Simmonds out (he was unnecessary vs the Wild and more speed would have been more effective).
Will Timmins play? He might. And he might because Sheldon Keefe did not show a lot of confidence in Victor Mete, but he does seem willing to play Mac Hollowell more than makes most viewers comfortable.
Lines
Michael Bunting – Auston Matthews – William Nylander
Calle Järnkrok – John Tavares – Mitch Marner
Alex Kerfoot – Pontus Holmberg – Wayne Simmonds
Zach Aston-Reese – David Kämpf – Pierre Engvall
Extras: Denis Malgin, Nick Robertson
Mark Giordano – Justin Holl
Rasmus Sandin – Timothy Liljegren
Victor Mete – Mac Hollowell
Extra: Conor Timmins
Erik Källgren – expected starter
Matt Murray
The Game
Morgan Rielly’s seat on PP1 isn’t even cold, and the Leafs are slipping down the rankings in power play success %. The power play is very unreliable at the moment, so is the defence, and so is Erik Källgren. If enough of those things fail at once, we could have an ugly game. If they don’t, we won’t.
As always, the Leafs must play to their strength. They can be slightly more defensively responsible, but they won’t become the Devils overnight. They have to use their speed and offensive power to the max. Particularly against the aged Penguins.
Go Leafs Go, keep running this con as long as you can.