The Bruins are in Toronto, where they will take on the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Air Canada Centre. This is the B's first trip to YYZ this season, but the two teams have faced each other twice already in Boston with the Bruins outscoring the Leafs 12-4 in those two contests. Both teams were in action last night with the Bruins falling 4-3 in a shootout to the Blackhawks in Chicago and the Maple Leafs losing 5-2 to the Sabres in Buffalo.
Know Your Enemy
Toronto Maple Leafs (12-16-7; 5th in Northeast, 14th in Eastern Conference)
Head Coach: Ron Wilson (2nd season behind Toronto's Bench; 46-51-20 with TOR, 564-477-101-66 Lifetime)
SB Nation's Leafs Blog: Pension Plan Puppets
Leading Scorer:
Tonight's Probable Starting Goaltenders
Both teams played last night, so neither team is holding a morning skate today. If I had to guess I would say that both teams will sit the goalies that got the start last night (Tim Thomas and Vesa Toskala).
Injury Report:
Projected Lines and D-Pairs:
Boston
|
Marco Sturm
|
Marc Savard
|
Michael Ryder
|
|
Daniel Paille
|
Patrice Bergeron
|
Mark Recchi
|
|
Blake Wheeler
|
David Krejci
|
Byron Bitz
|
|
Steve Begin
|
Vladimir Sobotka
|
Shawn Thornton
|
| Zdeno Chara | Derek Morris |
| Andy Wozniewski | Andrew Ference |
| Matt Hunwick | Johnny Boychuk |
Toronto
| Alexei Ponikarovsky | Matt Stajan |
Phil Kessel
|
| Jason Blake |
Mikhail Grabovski |
Niklas Hagman |
|
Nikolai Kulemin
|
Wayne Primeau
|
Lee Stempniak
|
|
Christian Hanson
|
Jamal Mayers |
Tim Brent
|
| Tomas Kaberle | Mike Komisarek |
| Francois Beauchemin | Jeff Finger |
|
Ian White |
Luke Schenn |
Notes:
- Toronto goalie Jonas Gustavsson is expected to get his first start since undergoing heart surgery just 2 weeks ago.
- Leafs Broadcaster Joe Bowen talks about the food in the media room at the ACC, Phil Kessel's game, and the Leafs recent goaltending woes:
- The Leafs started the year losing their first 8 games (0-7-1) and didn't record their first win until October 26th when they beat Anaheim 6-3. Toronto has started to turn things around a bit lately, winning 6 of their last 10.
- This will be the third time the B's and Leafs have played this year. I think we can stop with the "Kessel-Mania" Roman numeral B.S.
- It's almost that time of year when the mercury starts to dip and so does Phil Kessel's production. Don't say I didn't warn you Leafs fans.
- If you are heading to the game in Toronto, be sure to stock up on some masking tape to alter that black & gold #81 jersey you have collecting dust in the closet like this gentleman.
- Game starts at 7:00 and can be seen on NESN, NHL Network, and Hockey Night in Canada. Public Skate open thread starts right here at 6:30.
- For more on the Leafs, check out Pension Plan Puppets
Today's Obligatory Embarrassing Leafs Fan YouTube Video
Haha, even though the Leafs are horrible they have Phil Kessel throwing shots on net to look forward to. Kesel can score 45 goals this year, but the Leafs still won't make the playoffs. Thanks for the draft picks.