Preview: Maple Leafs vs the New York Rangers
New York Rangers @ Toronto Maple Leafs
07:00 PM at Scotiabank Arena
Watch on: TNT, SN
The Leafs last game was at home on January 23 against the New York Islanders, which Toronto won by a score of 5-2. The Leafs have a record of 29-11-8 so far.
The New York Rangers last played at home on January 23 against the Florida Panthers. The Rangers won by a score of 6-2, and their current league record is 26-14-7.
Them
The Rangers are currently sitting comfortably in third place in the Metro, with enough separation on the Penguins and the Capitals that they shouldn’t be worried about making the playoffs, barring a major disaster.
Lines
Mollie Walker via Daily Faceoff
Artemi Panarin - Mika Zibanejad - Chris Kreider
Jimmy Vesey - Vincent Trocheck - Barclay Goodrow
Alexis Lafreniere - Filip Chytil - Kaapo Kakko
Will Cuylle - Jake Leschyshyn - Julien Gauthier
Ryan Lindgren - Adam Fox
K’Andre Miller - Jacob Trouba
Ben Harpur - Braden Schneider
Igor Shesterkin
Jaroslav Halak
Us
The Leafs shifted around the fourth liners and are said to be letting Zach Aston-Reese sit out to stoke his competitive fire. Essentially, Sheldon Keefe is trying to get a good feel for his depth players. Yesterday’s practice lines are below:
Lines
Michael Bunting - Auston Matthews - William Nylander
Calle Järnkrok - John Tavares - Mitch Marner
Bobby McMann - David Kämpf - Pierre Engvall
Alexander Kerfoot - Pontus Holmberg - Joey Anderson
Morgan Rielly - Justin Holl
Mark Giordano - Timothy Liljegren
Rasmus Sandin - Jordie Benn
Ilya Samsonov
Matt Murray
Goalies are unconfirmed, but I will bet it’s Samsonov.
The Game
The Rangers are just good enough at everything to be a playoff team, but they don’t excel in anything beyond Shesterkin’s best games in net. This game should go to the Leafs unless he steals it.