Tampa Bay Lightning at Toronto Maple Leafs: GAME 70
Time: 7:00 pm Eastern Time
Location: Scotiabank Arena
Broadcast/Streaming: TVAS, TSN4, SUN
Opponent SBNation Site: Pension Plan Puppets
Preview:
The Tampa Bay Lightning will wrap up both their road trip and fifth straight game against a division opponent tonight against the Toronto Maple Leafs. It’s the third of four meetings between the two teams this season — each team has one win in the season series so far. Both teams head into tonight’s game looking to rebound from tough losses on the road.
The Lightning had a huge opportunity over the last few games to close the gap between themselves and the Boston Bruins for first in the division — and did so with a win over them on Saturday. Unfortunately, they dropped their game the next day against the Detroit Red Wings, but did get an important shootout point. The gap is currently six points, and the difference remains the number of extra points Boston picked up from losses in overtime or the shootout, because both teams have the same number of wins.
Meanwhile, the Leafs returned from their California road trip having picked up just one of a possible six points in the standings. In that span, the Florida Panthers have closed the gap between them and Toronto for third in the Atlantic. Despite getting near-perfect goaltending, Toronto’s offense went bone-dry in Anaheim and Los Angeles. The Leafs shuffled their lines yesterday in hopes of waking up their offense tonight against the Bolts.
Ryan McDonagh returned from injury on Sunday and it looks like Jan Rutta isn’t far behind, which is good news, because the defense pair of Zach Bogosian and Luke Schenn isn’t going to cut it for the Lightning. They did lose Victor Hedman to injury (again) over the weekend, but based on line rushes this morning, it looks as though he’ll draw back into the lineup tonight.
The Leafs’ blueline is on the mend, as well. Cody Ceci returned last week and Morgan Rielly will draw back into the lineup for the first time since breaking his foot in mid-January. Toronto struggled mightily in their own end without both of them (and things went from bad to worse when Jake Muzzin was also injured), so the Bolts will be facing a healthier and motivated Leafs defense group tonight.
Tampa Bay and Toronto will meet again for the final time this season in a couple of weeks. Both teams desperately need the two points tonight — the Leafs to fend off the Panthers, and the Lightning to catch the Bruins — and are looking to rebound from losses. There’s no shortage of drama and intensity when these two teams play each other, and it’s looking more likely that this will be the first round matchup in the playoffs.
Update
Elliotte Friedman is reporting that Victor Hedman will not play again tonight
No Hedman tonight for TB
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) March 10, 2020
He seemed to be skating on a regular pair and was part of the second power play unit so the team must have seen something after practice that made them want to be careful. That means we’re in for another night of either Braydon Coburn or Luke Schenn playing with Zach Bogosian.
Toronto Maple Leafs
Forward Lines
Zach Hyman – Auston Matthews – William Nylander
Kasperi Kapanen – John Tavares – Mitch Marner
Pierre Engvall – Alexander Kerfoot – Denis Malgin
Kyle Clifford – Frederik Gauthier – Jason Spezza
Injured: Ilya Mikheyev
Defense Pairings
Morgan Rielly – Cody Ceci
Travis Dermott – Justin Holl
Rasmus Sandin – Tyson Barrie
Calle Rosen – Martin Marincin
Injured: Jake Muzzin
Goaltenders
Frederik Andersen
Jack Campbell
Tampa Bay Lightning
Forward Lines
Ondrej Palat – Brayden Point – Blake Coleman
Alex Killorn – Anthony Cirelli – Nikita Kucherov
Carter Verhaeghe – Tyler Johnson – Yanni Gourde
Patrick Maroon – Cedric Paquette – Barclay Goodrow
Mitchell Stephens
Defense Pairings
Ryan McDonagh – Erik Cernak
Mikhail Sergachev – Kevin Shattenkirk
Luke Schenn – Zach Bogosian
Braydon Coburn
Injured: Jan Rutta, Victor Hedman
Goaltenders
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Curtis McElhinney
