Hello Toronto Maple Leafs fans!
Today is the re-scheduled “Next Gen Game” that was supposed to happen on December 23rd before more games were postponed and whatnot.
New Jersey Devils at Toronto Maple Leafs
7:00PM - Scotiabank Arena
TV: Sportsnet
Other Guys: In Lou We Trust
The Maple Leafs will be sporting new jerseys, designed in a collaboration with Justin Biebers “Drew” clothing line, and are pretty sharp looking and as a bonus, they can be worn inside out.
Safe to say they like it, @justinbieber 😉#NextGenGame x @drewhouse pic.twitter.com/z5UpLUwppA
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) March 23, 2022
I’m not usually a fan of black jerseys, but you know, the blue really pops on this and it’s not another variant of blue jersey with white stripes. It’s a black jersey with blue stripes. Very different.
Them
The New Jersey Devils are a bottom ten team just trying to run out the clock. Currently 27th overall, the Devils are hoping to be near the end of a rebuild around Jack Hughes soon and back into the playoff picture. For now, all they’ll be doing is trying to play spoiler and take wins away from playoff bound teams. They’ve only won home games in March but those wins included teams like the Avalanche, Rangers, and Ducks. They haven’t won a road game in a month; they defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins 6-1 on February 24th.
The biggest worry about this game is the fact that the Leafs tendency play down to bottom feeding teams level.
Lines
Yegor Sharangovich - Jack Hughes - Dawson Mercer
Tomas Tartar - Nico Hischier - Jesper Bratt
Andreas Johnsson - Jesper Boqvist - Jimmy Vesey
Mason Geertsen - Michael McLeod - Nathan Bastian
Jonas Siegenthaler - Dougie Hamilton
Ryan Graves - Damon Severson
Ty Smith - PK Subban
Jon Gillies
Nico Dawes
Injured: Miles Wood, Jonathan Bernier, Mackenzie Blackwood, Janne Kuokkanen, Pavel Zacha
Ex-Leafs to worry about: Jimmy Vesey, Andreas Johnsson
US
Oh, those Maple Leafs.
Recently they’ve beaten the Stars and Hurricanes and then lost easily to the Sabres and Predators. What a wacky team. Tonight though, we hope they play a little harder because it’s the debut game for newest Maple Leafs Mark Giordano and Colin Blackwell. Don’t mess this up Leafs.
Lines
Michael Bunting - Auston Matthews - Mitch Marner
Alexander Kerfoot - John Tavares - William Nylander
Ilya Mikheyev - David Kämpf - Pierre Engvall
Wayne Simmonds - Jason Spezza - Colin Blackwell
Morgan Rielly - Ilya Lyubushkin
TJ Brodie - Justin Holl
Mark Giordano - Timothy Liljegren
Petr Mrázek
Erik Källgren
Injured: Jake Muzzin, Jack Campbell, Rasmus Sandin, Ondřej Kaše
Potential Milestones:
- Pierre Engvall needs one point to get his 50th career point
- Mark Giordano needs one goal to hit 150
- If Petr Mrázek gets a shutout it will be his 25th all time [editor’s note: and we all faint dead away]/
Preview numbers
Preview Stats
| Toronto | Team | Tampa |
|---|---|---|
| 3-3 | Series | 3-3 |
| 23GF - 21GA - +2 | Goal Differential | 21GF - 23GA - -2 |
| 16% - 11th | Power Play | 22.6% - 7th |
| 77.4% - 10th | Penalty Kill | 84% - 6th |
| Auston Matthews - 4 | Most Goals | Colton, Palat - 3 |
| Mitch Marner - 5 | Most Assists | Nikita Kucherov - 6 |
| Auston Matthews - 8 | Most Points | Nikita Kucherov - 8 |
| Ilya Lyubushkin - 18 | Most PM | Jan Rutta - 17 |
| TJ Brodie - 22:44 | TOI Leader | Victor Hedman - 25:45 |
| Jack Campbell - .893sv% | Starting Goalie | Andrei Vasilevskiy - .885sv% |
Get ready for a game full of music I don’t know, cartoons, Bieber, and everything that makes people cranky.
7:00!
Go Leafs Go!
