Toronto Maple Leafs Look for Redemption vs Blues

The bye week is now officially over as the Toronto Maple Leafs take on the St. Louis Blues tonight at 7:00 pm on TSN4.

The bye week came at the perfect time for the Toronto Maple Leafs, after they had two frustrating losses against the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Ottawa Senators. The Toronto Maple Leafs will look to start the second half of their season on the right note against the Blues.

Toronto Maple Leafs Lines

It appears that Mike Babcock hasn’t made many changes to the Toronto Maple Leafs lines. Kristen Shilton of TSN reported earlier this morning that Babcock decided to continue with his lineup that he had prior to the bye week.

In addition, Babcock and Lou Lamoriello decided to recall Travis Dermott and Frederik Gauthier from the Toronto Marlies and insert them back in the lineup. Babcock decided to pair Dermott with his stay-at-home defenseman, Roman Polak. Perhaps, Dermott can talk some sense into Polak and preach to him about not taking penalties as Polak has 8 PIM in his last five games.

In terms of Gauthier, Babcock decided to place him back into the Toronto Maple Leafs’ fourth line alongside Matt Martin and Connor Brown. It’s an interesting choice after a rough night for the Toronto Maple Leafs’ fourth line against the Senators. Hopefully, the fourth line will have resurgence after having the last six days off.

Tonight, the odd man out for the Toronto Maple Leafs is Andreas Borgman.

St. Louis Blues

The Blues are also coming off a much needed bye week, after they’ve lost their last three games to the Florida Panthers, the Washington Capitals and the Philadelphia Flyers. In the last three games for the Blues, they’ve been outscored 17 to 10. So, their offense will be looking to redeem themselves tonight in Toronto.

Familiar Friends

Toronto Maple Leafs fans in attendance will see two familiar names, Carl Gunnarsson and Alexander Steen in the lineup for the Blues. Fortunately for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Gunnarsson is having a horrendous season for the Blues and currently holds a corsi-for percentage of 43.5. Steen is also having a shaky season and has a rubbish oiGA of 33 goals. If Steen continues at this pace, he’ll post a career high in oiGA.

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Stellar Blues To Watch Out For

Aside from the Blues’ current losing streak, their offensive defensemen, Colton Parayko and Alex Pietrangelo are both having career years. Combined the pair have 12 goals, 42 assists and 15 PP points. The Toronto Maple Leafs need to be on high alert in their defensive zone as both Parayko and Pietrangelo can be demon-like from the blue-line.

In addition, the Toronto Maple Leafs defense definitely can’t forget about Paul Stastny, Brayden Schenn and Vladimir Tarasenko. Stastny is on a hot streak and has posted 3 goals and 3 assists in his last five games. Schenn has also been flawless for the Blues and is having a career season. Currently, Schenn has 17 goals and 27 assists. At this pace, Schenn will likely finish the season with approximately 30 goals and 50 assists. Tarasenko has also been valuable for the Blues night in and night out. He’s considered to be one of the best snipers in the NHL and has 19 goals and 25 assists so far this season.

The Toronto Maple Leafs’ defense will have their hands full tonight and will need to stay awake in the defensive zone to avoid another collapse.

Prediction

Tonight’s game against the Blues will be a rather tough matchup for the Toronto Maple Leafs, but they should be able to prevail. As long as the Toronto Maple Leafs’ defense holds their end of the bargain, they should be victorious.

Next: Leafs Are Contenders

I predict that the Toronto Maple Leafs will beat the Blues 4 to 3.