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# Game Preview: Toronto Maple Leafs vs. St. Louis Blues
- URL: https://www.pensionplanpuppets.com/toronto-maple-leafs-vs-st-louis-blues-matthews-tarasenko-allen-andersen/
- Published: 2017-11-04T15:00:02.000Z
- Updated: 2017-11-04T15:00:02.000Z
- Description: Welcome to the Tarasenkshow
- Author: Arvind S
- Tags: Game Coverage, #chorus, #Import 2023-04-05 11:27

The Leafs have been taking a beating recently, and Saturday night’s tilt against the Blues could be more of the same.

### Maple Leafs @ Blues  
7:00PM - Scottrade Centre  
Watch: CBC, Game Centre Live  
Listen: TSN1050, Sportsnet590  
SBN Rival: [St. Louis Game Time](http://stlouisgametime.com/?ref=pensionplanpuppets.com)

The Blues are off to a great start this year. They lead the Central Division by five points, and are tied with the Kings for the conference lead in that category. Unsurprisingly, Vladimir Tarasenko is off to a torrid start, with 14 points in as many games. More surprisingly, he doesn’t lead their team in scoring. That honour belongs to Jaden Schwartz, who has long been an under-appreciated figure around the NHL, but is finally putting up the numbers to generate the talk his all-around play has deserved for a while. Those two are centred by the newly acquired Brayden Schenn. If there is a weakness to this team, it is centre depth. Paul Stastny is likely their best centre, and they keep him away from Tarasenko’s line in order to balance their lines out.

On the back end, they are led by two of the best defencemen in the NHL - Alex Pietrangelo and Colton Parayko. But once again, their depth is a little lacking. Carl Gunnarsson was out of place on the top pair on Toronto 4 years ago. The same is true now. As much crap as Jay Bouwmeester gets, his ability to log big minutes would be a welcome addition to this team.

Jake Allen will be between the pipes, and he’s been a big reason for their success to start the year, with a .929 save percentage. They shoot at a league average rate, and their possession is middling. Allen has been what has separated them, in the early going.

**Toronto Maple Leafs**

Zach Hyman - Auston Matthews - William Nylander  
Leo Komarov - Nazem Kadri - Kasperi Kapanen  
James van Riemsdyk - Patrick Marleau - Connor Brown  
Matt Martin - Tyler Bozak - Mitch Marner

Morgan Rielly - Ron Hainsey   
Jake Gardiner - Connor Carrick   
Andreas Borgman - Nikita Zaitsev

Frederik Andersen  
Curtis McElhinney

**St. Louis Blues (via Daily Faceoff)**

Jaden Schwartz - Brayden Schenn - Vladimir Tarasenko  
Vladimir Sobotka - Paul Stastny - Alex Steen  
Dmitri Jaskin - Oskar Sundqvist - Magnus Paajarvi  
Scottie Upshall - Kyle Brodziak - Chris Thorburn

Carl Gunnarsson - Alex Pietrangelo   
Joel Edmunson - Colton Parayko  
Vince Dunn - Robert Bortuzzo

Jake Allen  
Carter Hutton