Anaheim Ducks @ Toronto Maple Leafs
07:00 PM at Scotiabank Arena
Watch on: TSN4, Victory+, KCOP-13

The Leafs last game was away on March 10 against the Montréal Canadiens, which Toronto lost by a score of 3-1 in regulation. The Leafs have a record of 27-27-11 for a 0.5 Points %.

The Anaheim Ducks last played away on March 10 against the Winnipeg Jets. The Ducks won by a score of 4-1 in regulation, and their current league record is 36-25-3 for a 0.586 Points %.

St. Louis is the fifth to last team in the standings with a Points % of 0.469. If they continue at that points rate, they will finish with 77 points (rounded up). The Leafs have to finish with 76 points to take that spot in the standings, and they need to play at 0.324 the rest of the season to only get 11 points out of the remaining 17 games.

Los Angeles is the fourth place team contesting for the two western wild card spots. Seattle holds the second spot with a Points % of 0.532 which would give them 87 points if they maintain that pace. For Los Angeles to get 88 points and take that spot, giving Toronto a second-round pick, they have to play 0.583 the rest of the season. They are at 0.523.

Them

The Ducks are leading the weakest version of the Pacific division in the history of weak Pacific divisions. Okay, maybe not, but they aren't very strong.

They are okay at a lot of things, and they have Lukas Dostal. He's fifth in the NHL for regular starting goalies in the Expected Goals Against he has faced, and he's managed to save a titch over expected with that workload.

The Ducks play a high-end 50/50 club five-on-five game. Their Expected Goals and Corsi are 51% and 52%. This puts them higher up than say, Buffalo, on a ranked list, but the difference is extremely small. They are in that big blob of mediocrity with most of the league.

Their power play is mediocre and they score under expected. Their PK is very bad and the goalies make it worse.

Their all-situations Goals % is 48. That's the Pacific for you.

Lines

Last Game (2026-03-10) via Daily Faceoff

Chris Kreider - Leo Carlsson - Cutter Gauthier
Mason McTavish - Mikael Granlund - Beckett Sennecke
Alex Killorn - Ryan Poehling - Jeffrey Viel
Jansen Harkins - Tim Washe - Ross Johnston

Jackson Lacombe - Jacob Trouba
Olen Zellweger - Radko Gudas
Pavel Mintyukov - Ian Moore

Lukas Dostal - likely starter, but unconfirmed
Ville Husso

Us

With 200 games played (and a points rate that just skates over the Roman Polak threshold for viability in the NHL) it was inevitable that "energy guy" Michael Pezzetta would get some time in at the NHL level. Those games were all with Montréal and his zero points in 25 games last year as the Canadiens improved had him up for grabs in the summer.

Nick Kypreos frightened the masses by assuming he'd been signed to play the fourth line, but Pezzetta was easily outplayed by others in training camp. He has appeared in 37 games for the Marlies and has 52 PIM (second on the team).

It's also his birthday tomorrow, so happy 28th birthday to Michael Pezzetta. He's from Toronto so he's playing for free tonight.

In more meaningful news, Easton Cowan seems to have taken over Matt Knies' job, and Calle Järnkrok draws back in as Dakota Joshua and Steven Lorentz sit out a game.

Lines

Morning skate:

Easton Cowan - Auston Matthews - William Nylander
Matthew Knies- John Tavares - Max Domi
Matias Maccelli - Bo Groulx - Nicholas Robertson
Michael Pezzetta - Jacob Quillan - Calle Järnkrok

Morgan Rielly - Brandon Carlo
Jake McCabe - Oliver Ekman-Larsson
Simon Benoit - Troy Stecher

Anthony Stolarz
Joe Woll - starter

The Game

Pezzetta's job is to "wake up the team" which, sure, that works.

I'm not going to say they don't seem to be dithering their way through the rest of the season, and he might help keep the fans awake, but well, let's see how it all goes down.

Note: This makes four post-deadline recalls from the AHL in use by the Leafs right now: Cowan, Quillan, Groulx and Pezzetta. They cannot add another player without sending one of those four down first.

Game Coverage