Utah Mammoth @ Toronto Maple Leafs
07:00 PM at Scotiabank Arena
Watch on: TSN4, Mammoth+, Utah16

The Leafs last game was away on October 31 against the Vancouver Canucks, which Toronto won by a score of 4-2 in regulation. The Leafs have a record of 8-6-2 for a 0.562 Points %.

The Utah Mammoth last played away on November 1 against the Philadelphia Flyers. The Mammoth lost by a score of 6-3 in regulation, and their current league record is 9-6-0 for a 0.600 Points %.

Them

Utah are good to excellent at everything except their PK. But their results in Goals Saved over Expected are very bad, and that's why they don't win all that often. These results are coming on some of the lightest workload in the NHL for goalies.

They tried to get Connor Hellebuyck for a very good reason. They are, so far this year, just like last year's Senators.

Lines

Utah Mammoth via Daily Faceoff from the last game

Clayton Keller - Nick Schmaltz - Dylan Guenther
Logan Cooley - Vincent Trocheck - Lawson Crouse
Anders Lee - Barrett Hayton - Michael Carcone
Jack McBain - Kevin Stenlund - Liam O'Brien

Mikhail Sergachev - MacKenzie Weegar
Nate Schmidt - Andrew Peeke
Dmitri Simashev - Artem Duda

Sebastian Cossa
Karel Vejmelka

Us

The Leafs came back in the third after giving up a lead the last time these two teams played, and didn't quite make it all the way to a road win. They were fairly even by most measures including stupid amounts of PIM.

Yesterday the team mixed up the lines, putting Dakota Joshua up on the second line making William Nylander, who would be the puck carrier anyway, the speedster in the group. Easton Cowan takes the top spot from Gavin McKenna, who is back with Colton Sissons where he seems to do well.

The fourth line is, naturally, untouched.

Should Joshua be on the second line? Well no, but he can do the net-front job very well, and at the moment some accommodation has to be made for the missing John Tavares who is due to return soon, as he skated with the team for the first time today. He is currently day-to-day.

Lines

David Alter via Daily Faceoff

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

Jake McCabe - Darren Raddysh
Morgan Rielly - Chris Tanev
Oliver Ekman-Larsson - Troy Stecher

Sergei Bobrovsky - starter
Anthony Stolarz

The Game

This is a simplification, but I think it's true:

If the Leafs, just a bit, not a huge amount, exit the defensive zone with control more often, they have the players who can carry the puck to the offensive zone and they have the ability to generate very good offence. This is "the fix" they need.

This would make the offensive pace better, cut down on the chasing-the-play penalties or the panic dump-outs that just eat time with nothing gained. All of it.

It would be good if puck retrievals and control all over the ice were better, but even if their overall puck skills are being displayed right now at their peak level, just a little touch more on the control at their own blueline and things are more rosy.

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