New York Rangers @ Toronto Maple Leafs
07:00 PM at Scotiabank Arena
Watch on: MSG, SN
The Leafs last game was at home on February 29 against the Arizona Coyotes, which Toronto won by a score of 4-2 in regulation. The Leafs have a record of 34-17-8 for a 0.644 Points %.
The New York Rangers last played at home on February 28 against the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Rangers won by a score of 4-1 in regulation, and their current league record is 40-17-3 for a 0.692 Points %.
Them
Igor Shesterkin joins Auston Matthews as two of the three stars for February. And that's a clue as to why the Rangers are having such a great regular season.
Let's talk goaltending and the team defending that goes along with it. What do you think of as a good team Save %? The League average is .903 this year, the lowest since 2005-2006. The Rangers, who are sixth in the NHL, are at .907. And Shesterkin may have had a hot February, but Jonathan Quick has had the better season (on fewer starts).
This helps a team with genuinely bad Expected Goals %. They rank 22nd in both Expected Goals for and against. Their Save % is more goalies than defending.
Their power play is good, though, and they score right at expected.
Lines
Vince Mercogliano via Daily Faceoff from the last game - reported to be unchanged at yesterday's practice.
Chris Kreider - Mika Zibanejad - Kaapo Kakko
Artemi Panarin - Vincent Trocheck - Alexis Lafrenière
Will Cuylle - Jonny Brodzinski - Jimmy Vesey
Adam Edstrom - Barclay Goodrow - Matthew Rempe
Ryan Lindgren - Adam Fox
K'Andre Miller - Jacob Trouba
Erik Gustafsson - Braden Schneider
Igor Shesterkin - likely starter
Jonathan Quick
Us
Everything about the Leafs roster is in flux because of injuries, players coming back from injury and Ilya Lyubushkin making his debut today.
Timothy Liljegren appears to be back and Calle Järnkrok practiced like he's playing.
Optional skate this morning, so no lines or pairs, so I just dealt out the likely order of defence pairs. One hopes I didn't forget anyone.
There has to be some roster moves to make space to activate Järnkrok and Lyubushkin, so we'll wait for word on that.
Lines
From yesterday, with an assumption about where Lyubushkin will play.
Matthew Knies - Auston Matthews - Mitch Marner
Tyler Bertuzzi - Max Domi - William Nylander
Bobby McMann - John Tavares - Calle Järnkrok
Pontus Holmberg - David Kämpf - Ryan Reaves
Morgan Rielly - Timothy Liljegren (gametime decision)
T.J. Brodie - Jake McCabe
Simon Benoit - Ilya Lyubushkin
Ilya Samsonov - likely starter
Joe Woll
The Game
The Rangers are a very hard team to beat if you get behind. They don't allow goals, their power play will hurt, and the only consolation is they don't defend very well.
Get out in front, and don't take stupid penalties. Oh, Reaves is in the lineup. Never mind.
