Toronto Maple Leafs at Vegas Golden Knights: Game 41
Time: 3:30PM Toronto, 12:30PM Local
Location: T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas
Broadcast/Streaming: Rogers Sportsnet, City TV, TVA Sports, AT&T Sportsnet Rocky Mountain, NHL Live
Opponent SBNation Site: Knights on Ice
The Maple Leafs have left Colorado and landed in Vegas, and are apparently staying in a hotel a 25 minute drive away from the strip, far from the temptations that could cause a team of young rich men to play like, well young rich men after a night in Vegas. They can come back for their fun at the NHL Awards in June.
In their past five games the Maple Leafs are 3-1-1, losing to the Blue Jackets and Avalanche (in overtime). The Knights are 5-0-0 in their past five, and are on a six game winning streak. That’s the trouble with Vegas, once they get winning it usually last quite a few games until they lose.
The last time these two teams met, the Maple Leafs pulled out a victory, but needed to take the game to a shootout to get the W. The Leafs had a 3-1 lead after the first but gave up a goal in the second and third (to Deryk Engelland!) to push the game to extra time.
The game should be full of Maple Leafs fans, the Vegas road trip seems to be popular among away team fans, and it’s the Maple Leafs, everywhere they go the rink fills with us. Here are your projected lines and goalies, and all kinds of stuff.
Toronto Maple Leafs
Forward Lines
Zach Hyman - Auston Matthews - William Nylander
Patrick Marleau - Nazem Kadri - Leo Komarov
James van Riemsdyk - Tyler Bozak - Mitch Marner
Matt Martin - Dominic Moore - Connor Brown
Defence Pairings
Morgan Rielly - Ron Hainsey
Jake Gardiner - Nikita Zaitsev
Andreas Borgman - Connor Carrick
Goaltenders
Frederik Andersen
Calvin Pickard
Vegas Golden Knights
Forward Lines
David Perron - Erik Haula - James Neal
Reilly Smith - William Karlsson - Jonathan Marchessault
Brendan Leipsic - Cody Eakin - Alex Tuch
Oscar Lindberg - Pierre-Édouard Bellemare - Tomas Nosek
Defence Pairings
Brayden McNabb - Nate Schmidt
Deryk Engelland - Shea Theodore
Jon Merrill - Colin Miller
Goaltenders
Marc Andre Fleury
Malcolm Subban
Numbers Preview
| Maple Leafs | Team | Devils |
|---|---|---|
| 265GF - 226GA - +29 | Goal Differential | 238GF - 234GA - +4 |
| 24.4% - 2nd overall | Power Play | 21.7 - 10th overall |
| 81.3% - 12th overall | Penalty Kill | 81.9% - 7th overall |
| James van Riemsdyk - 36 | Most Goals | Taylor Hall - 39 |
| Mitch Marner - 47 | Most Assists | Taylor Hall - 54 |
| Mitch Marner - 69 | Most Points | Taylor Hall - 93 |
| Matt Martin - 50 | Most PM | Miles Wood - 84 |
| Jake Gardiner - 22:33/G | TOI Leader | Sami Vatanen - 22:42 |
| Frederik Andersen - .917sv% | Starting Goalie | Keith Kincaid - .911sv% |
The Leafs are kicking off a double header Hometown Hockey, so expect lots of looks back at the days of yonder of hockey and some sentimental intermission segments.
Most importantly, Mark Hunter gets to visit the team he beat in copyright court.
Go Leafs Go!
