Toronto Maple Leafs @ Utah Mammoth
09:00 PM at Delta Center
Watch on: TSN4, Mammoth+, Utah16

The Leafs last game was away on October 10 against the Colorado Avalanche, which Toronto won by a score of 6-3 in regulation. The Leafs have a record of 3-2-1 for a 0.583 Points %.

The Utah Mammoth last played away on October 10 against the Buffalo Sabres. The Mammoth won by a score of 4-1 in regulation, and their current league record is 4-2-0 for a 0.667 Points %.

Them

Utah seems to be a perennially misunderstood team. If I asked you to guess who is leading the league in five-on-five xGF% right now, you'd be forgiven for picking Carolina, but it is actually the Mammoth. They're doing so well on the strength of their offence, which is unsustainably high right now.

The caveat on their hot start is that they've played some very weak teams. They were beaten by Igor Shesterkin and David Pastrnak; otherwise, they've rolled over everyone.

This is not unprecedented; they were a very good five-on-five team last season, but they lack true game-breaking forward talent. They are very good at using a solid system to compensate, but they actually only scored goals last year at a tiny bit higher rate than the Leafs (who were better than you think they were at that).

Their goaltending kept them average, when they had the bones of an exceptional team, and so far this year it still is.

Winning the possession battle against them will not be easy.

Lines

Brogan Houston via Daily Faceoff from yesterday's practice

Clayton Keller - Nick Schmaltz - Lawson Crouse
Kailer Yamamoto - Logan Cooley - Dylan Guenther
Barrett Hayton - Vincent Trocheck - Anders Lee
Jack McBain - Kevin Stenlund - Daniil But

Mikhail Sergachev - MacKenzie Weegar
Nate Schmidt - John Marino
Dmitri Simashev - Andrew Peeke

Karel Vejmelka - likely starter
Sebastian Cossa

Us

Chris Tanev is out, and Marshall Rifai has been recalled. Oliver Ekman-Larsson was at morning skate after taking practice off, so he's playing through something not very serious.

Otherwise, no changes to the recent lineups.

Lines

David Alter via Daily Faceoff

Kirill Marchenko - Auston Matthews - Jack Roslovic
Easton Cowan - John Tavares - William Nylander
Gavin McKenna - Nick Paul - Colton Sissons
Brandon Duhaime - Teddy Blueger - Bo Groulx

Jake McCabe - Darren Raddysh
Morgan Rielly - Troy Stecher
Oliver Ekman-Larsson - Nick Blankenburg

Anthony Stolarz - starter
Sergai Bobrovsky

The Game

Maybe don't let them run you in circles in the second period? Or if that is the plan, score a lot first.

Game Coverage