Toronto Maple Leafs @ Tampa Bay Lightning
07:30 PM at Benchmark International Arena
Watch on: TNT, truTV, HBO MAX, SN, TVAS

The Leafs last game was away on February 3 against the Edmonton Oilers, which Toronto won by a score of 5-2 in regulation. The Leafs have a record of 27-21-9 for a 0.553 Points %.

The Tampa Bay Lightning last played at home on February 5 against the Florida Panthers. The Lightning won by a score of 6-1 in regulation, and their current league record is 37-14-4 for a 0.709 Points %.

Them

Everything's coming up roses in Tampa Bay after a bit of a slow start. Their Olympians are all unhurt, more or less, although Victor Hedman did not play in Sweden's last game. That was not a serious issue and was due to something that happened in warmup. He has not played very much this year, though.

Brayden Point is back in action, as is Erik Cernak. Anthony Cirelli is a question mark and might not be ready to return.

Other than that, Tampa is the team in the east most like the Avalanche in terms of quality of play, possession and goaltending. They have more shooting luck/skill than the Hurricanes and their goalies are better giving them the edge.

The Lightning had an optional skate today, but Cirelli, projected below as in, likely will not return yet. Some adjustment will be made. Emil Lilleberg is also now available on defence.

And if you missed the news elsewhere, Jon Cooper will not be behind the bench due to the death of his father.

Lines

Projected lineup from various reports as assembled by Daily Faceoff:

Gage Goncalves - Brayden Point - Nikita Kucherov
Brandon Hagel - Anthony Cirelli - Jake Guentzel
Zemgus Girgensons - Yanni Gourde - Pontus Holmberg
Curtis Douglas - Dominic James - Oliver Bjorkstrand

J.J. Moser - Darren Raddysh
Charle-Edouard D'Astous - Victor Hedman
Ryan McDonagh - Erik Cernak

Andrei Vasilevskiy
Jonas Johansson

Us

Dakota Joshua is nearly ready to play, and I'm pleased to see him back from that scary injury. No one ever wants to hear about internal organs in a hockey injury. He is a scratch tonight, however.

John Tavares missed practice with an illness yesterday but is back at it today, and Auston Matthews joined the team in Tampa, so today's skate is his first time back with his team.

Anthony Stolarz starts tonight, so Joe Woll faces the Panthers.

Lines

David Alter via Daily Faceoff from yesterday's practice with additions from today's skate and subject to change.

Bobby McMann - Auston Matthews - Max Domi
Matias Maccelli - John Tavares - William Nylander
Matthew Knies - Nicolas Roy - Nicholas Robertson
Steven Lorentz - Scott Laughton - Calle Järnkrok

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

Anthony Stolarz -starter
Joe Woll

The Game

I want the Leafs to win this game, so I want them to come out hard and play like they mean it.

Game Coverage