Toronto Maple Leafs at New York Rangers:

Time: 7:00 EST

Location: Madison Square Garden

Broadcast/Streaming: CBC

Opponent SBNation Site: Blueshirt Banter

In honour of a team of aging New York stars who can still nonetheless sometimes bring it, here are some aging New York stars bringing it.

The Rangers are currently fourth in the Metro murder pit, good for the first Wild Card spot in the East.  Their CF% numbers are terrible—currently 30th in the league adjusted at 5v5, says Natural Stat Trick—but they’re surviving with a sterling PDO, some of which they do deserve.  Still, they’re a cool 21st in xGF%.  These guys are beatable.

But let’s start with the Leafier news: Matthews is back.

Toronto Maple Leafs

Forward Lines

Zach Hyman - Auston Matthews - William Nylander

Patrick Marleau - Nazem Kadri - Leo Komarov

James van Riemsdyk - Tyler Bozak - Mitch Marner

Matt Martin - Dominic Moore - Connor Brown

Defence Pairings

Morgan Rielly - Ron Hainsey

Jake Gardiner - Connor Carrick

Andreas Borgman - Roman Polak

Goaltenders

Frederik Andersen

Curtis McElhinney

WOOOOOOOO

How we’ve missed you, Auston. Needless to say, the Leafs’ lineup gets significantly better, really quick, if we have our franchise player.  Hopefully 34 is ready to lead us out of our recent doldrums—although the team played well the last couple of games.

Patrick Marleau and Ron Hainsey were absent from practice, but are expected to play.

AUSTON.

New York Rangers

Forward Lines

Chris Kreider - Mika Zibanejad - Pavel Buchnevich

Rick Nash - David Desharnais - Mats Zuccarello

Michael Grabner - Kevin Hayes - Jimmy Vesey

Paul Carey - J.T. Miller - Boo Nieves

Defence Pairings

Ryan McDonagh - Nick Holden

Brady Skjei - Kevin Shattenkirk

Marc Staal - Brendan Smith

Goaltending

Henrik Lundqvist

Ondrej Pavelec

This team seems like it ought to be better than it is, except for that relatively soft centre lineup after Zibanejad (Zibanejad is dope.)  Having said that, while David Desharnais looked dead and buried last season, he’s producing at a 46-point pace, which is nothing terrible...but his CF% is the worst on a bad team.  Rick Nash is not what he was, but he can still flash some of the old magic, and Mats Zuccarello is still one of the most purely skilled playmaking wingers in the NHL.  Plus, they have Boo Nieves, who I assume brings wisdom from his time as a character in To Kill A Mockingbird.

Nick Holden seems a little odd on the top pairing, but Skjei-Shattenkirk is a nice second duo and while I like to make fun of Marc Staal, third pairing is about his level.  Seriously, this team seems like it would be something if they were deeper at centre...which makes the fact that they traded their best one, Derek Stepan, over the summer for futures all the more perplexing.

But of course, there’s one real superstar on the Rangers, and it’s the same handsome man it’s been for years.  Henrik Lundqvist, in defiance of Father Time, continues to perform at a high level.  It’s hard to see how he gets a Cup at this point, because the Rangers look to be fading away from one and his contract is a tough trade, but Lundqvist is unquestionably one of the most consistently great goalies this century.

Still, I want the Leafs to ruin his night and go into Christmas on a win. Go Leafs Go!

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