Toronto Maple Leafs @ Edmonton Oilers
07:00 PM at Rogers Place
Watch on: SN

The Leafs last game was at home on October 22 against the New York Rangers, which Toronto won by a score of 5-4 in regulation. The Leafs have a record of 6-4-2 for a 0.583 Points %.

The Edmonton Oilers last played at home on October 22 against the Carolina Hurricanes. The Oilers won by a score of 6-5 in a shootout, and their current league record is 8-1-1 for a 0.850 Points %.

Them

Okay, 10 games in and the Oilers have failed to win two games. How have they done that? They have beaten Vancouver (once of two meetings), the Kraken, the Ducks, the Sharks, the Kings, the Mammoth (once of two meetings), the Wild and the Hurricanes.

Against those tough opponents, they've still scored a ridiculous amount in their last four games but lost the Corsi battle most of the time. They have the second-highest goal-scoring rate on the power play in the NHL. The Leafs are third, by the way.

At five-on-five, the Oilers are average in Corsi and worse in Expected Goals, and are only very slightly better than the Leafs by that measure.

They are middle of the pack, and very similar to the Leafs, in their pace of xGF, and are not very good defensively. Weird that trading Darnell Nurse didn't just fix that.

They are a power play team. Their PK is average, and the Leafs Expected Goals Against shorthanded has massively improved, substantiating how they've looked. Which is good, because the Oilers' power play is legitimately dangerous with a lot of chances, and the Leafs are cruising along, scoring well over expected. The Leafs are not bad by any means; they are very good, but the Oilers are elite.

Do they have crappy goaltending though? You betcha. Tristan Jarry has been well below average in only three starts, while Devon Levi has respectable results for a backup. He is currently injured, and the Leafs should see Jarry tonight.

Lines

Bob Stauffer via Daily Faceoff from practice yesterday:

Vasily Podkolzin - Connor McDavid - Leon Draisaitl
Kasperi Kapanen - Ryan Nugent-Hopkins - Zach Hyman
Alex Formenton - Owen Michaels - Mathieu Joseph
Max Jones - Colton Dach - Filip Hallander

Shakir Mukhamadullin - Evan Bouchard
Ryan Shea - Connor Murphy
Jake Walman - Ty Emberson

Tristan Jarry - starter
Matt Tomkins

Us

Assuming no one tripped getting off the plane in Edmonton, the injury picture is:

  • Chris Tanev - still on IR, but on the road trip and skating
  • Marshall Rifai - day-to-day
  • Nick Blankenburg - week-to-week after his last game

Cole McWard, a very good AHL-level defender with nine career NHL games, was recalled along with Dakota Mermis.

Bobrovsky did not participate in practice yesterday with a scheduled day off. It is likely a Stolarz night.

Lines

Mark Masters via Daily Faceoff from yesterday's practice:

Easton Cowan - Auston Matthews - Jack Roslovic
Kirill Marchenko - Nick Paul - William Nylander
Gavin McKenna - Colton Sissons - Vinni Lettieri
Brandon Duhaime - Teddy Blueger - Zack MacEwen

Jake McCabe - Darren Raddysh
Morgan Rielly - Troy Stecher
Dakota Mermis - Oliver Ekman-Larsson

Anthony Stolarz - likely starter
Sergei Bobrovsky

The Game

The Leafs need to bring their best PK out against the Oilers, as they did vs the Rangers. Then they need to score more goals than the team with the most in the league. Good luck!

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