Preview: Maple Leafs at Capitals

Washington Capitals @ Toronto Maple Leafs
05:00 PM at Scotiabank Arena
Watch on: NHLN, TSN4, NBCSWA

The Leafs last game was at home on January 27 against the Ottawa Senators, which Toronto lost by a score of 6-2. The Leafs have a record of 30-12-8 so far.

The Washington Capitals last played at home on January 26 against the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Capitals won by a score of 3-2, and their current league record is 26-19-6.

Them

Plagued by injuries early, the Capitals are having a hard time getting a grip on a playoff spot.

Lines

Samantha Pell via Daily Faceoff

Alex Ovechkin - Dylan Strome - T.J. Oshie
Conor Sheary - Evgeny Kuznetsov - Anthony Mantha
Sonny Milano - Nicklas Backstrom - Marcus Johansson
Nicolas Aube-Kubel - Lars Eller - Garnet Hathaway

Erik Gustafsson - Trevor van Riemsdyk
Dmitry Orlov - Nick Jensen
Matt Irwin - Martin Fehervary

Darcy Kuemper
Charlie Lindgren

Us

TJ Brodie should play today, and to make room on the roster, I would imagine Auston Matthews will go on IR.

This looks like a much more reasonable lineup than the fanciful one that started vs the Senators, so here’s hoping this works better.

UPDATE:

The Leafs made it official, activating TJ Brodie from IR. They also recalled Joseph Woll from the Marlies and he will backup Samsonov tonight. In corresponding moves, Matthews was placed on IR (not LTIR, so there’s no minimum time for him to be there) and Bobby McMann was sent back to the Marlies.

These four moves are a simple two-in-two-out, with the Leafs carrying three goalies and eight defenders. This is why Simmonds is in the lineup, because he’s the 12th forward now and there’s no space for a 13th.

Once it’s time for Matthews to return, the Leafs can either send back Woll without waivers, or put Matt Murray on IR if he’s still out. Once Matthews and Murray are healthy, the Leafs will have a full 23-player roster.

Lines

Yesterday’s practice lines:

Michael Bunting - John Tavares - Mitch Marner
Calle Järnkrok - Alex Kerfoot - William Nylander
Pierre Engvall - David Kämpf - Joey Anderson
Zach Aston-Reese - Pontus Holmberg - Wayne Simmonds

Morgan Rielly - TJ Brodie
Mark Giordano - Justin Holl
Rasmus Sandin - Timothy Liljegren

Ilya Samsonov - confirmed starter
Joseph Woll*

The Game

NOTE THE START TIME, and GO LEAFS GO!