The Toronto Maple Leafs will face the top team in the league tonight, the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Toronto Maple Leafs get a tough test against one of the NHL’s best teams. It’s a game rife with story-lines as it’s a match-up between two top teams from the Eastern Conference, two of the best centers in the league and between two élite goaltenders.
According to the pairings during the Toronto Maple Leafs morning skate, Roman Polak will play tonight against Tampa. Connor Carrick will be the healthy scratch. No other changes seem to be made from last Saturday’s game.
#Leafs lines at morning skate:
— Kristen Shilton (@kristen_shilton) February 12, 2018
Hyman-Matthews-Nylander
Marleau-Kadri-Marner
van Riemsdyk-Bozak-Brown
Komarov-Moore-Kapanen
Leivo, Martin
Rielly-Hainsey
Gardiner-Zaitsev
Dermott-Polak
Carrick
Battle of Vezina
Tonight, at 7 PM in the ACC, is not just a faceoff between two top teams in the Eastern Conference. It is also a faceoff between two of the best goaltenders in the entire league. It is no secret that elite goaltending can win you games, perhaps even Cups, so let’s see how these goaltenders stack up.
More from Editor In Leaf
- Toronto Maple Leafs: Nick Robertson Healthy and Ready
- Ryan Reaves Will Have Zero Impact on Toronto Maple Leafs
- Toronto Maple Leafs: Playing Max Domi In Top-Six a HUGE Mistake
- Top 10 Scandals in the History of the Toronto Maple Leafs
- Toronto Maple Leafs: Results from the Traverse City Prospects Tournament
The stats between Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Frederik Andersen and Tampa Bay Lightning Andrei Vasilevskiy are in the favor of the latter. Posting a better GAA, save percentage, and league-leading wins and shutouts. Even though Vasilevskiy posts the better statistics, these don’t tell the entire story.
Frederik Andersen has faced a league-leading shot against of 1576 in 47 starts. Whilst Vasilevskiy faced 1453 shots against in 46 starts. So what, Andersen has faced some more shots, no big deal right? Actually, yes, big deal.
The Toronto Maple Leafs allow more high scoring chances against than the Tampa Bay Lightning. Meaning that Frederik Andersen has been forced more often to make brilliant saves to win games for Toronto. Not saying Vasilevskiy hasn’t been doing exactly that. All I’m saying is that the Tampa Bay Lightning team defense is better than the Toronto Maple Leafs defense.
Frederik Andersen has arguably been the best goaltender in the league since November, I mean, imagine his stats if not for that bad start in October. It’s hard to compare goalie stats across teams, as success at the position is largely team dependent – but it’s not overtly biased to say Andersen should win the trophy were the season over today.
Toronto Maple Leafs
The Toronto Maple Leafs are in the midst of a five-game homestand, winning the first three games so far. They will try to extend their winning streak to four and stay on the trail of the second-placed Boston Bruins.
Next: Most Likely to Be Traded
Even though the battle for playoff contention in the Atlantic Division looks decided, this game holds great importance. If not for the standings, it will be for a possible matchup during the playoffs. So it will be interesting to see how Babcock tries to match up the lines tonight.
I predict the Toronto Maple Leafs will top Tampa Bay this time in yet another entertaining game in 3 -1. Let’s hope I’m right for once, with my predictions.
Enjoy the game!
All stats from naturalstattrick and fox sports.