The Toronto Maple Leafs face the reigning Stanley Cup champions as they faceoff in Pittsburgh tonight.
As the puck drops at 7 PM in Pittsburgh, the Toronto Maple Leafs face the P enguins. It’s crazy to think, that it is only 31 months ago, that Phil Kessel became part of a blockbuster deal that landed the Toronto Maple Leafs Kasperi Kapanen. (Not to mention led to the eventual drafting of Auston Matthews).
Phil Kessel, the player who could do not right in the eyes of the crazed media in Toronto. A player who has been criticized more than he deserved. A player that is still, to this day, proving that he is the real deal. Being tied for the team lead in points with 66, and chasing his first Art Ross trophy, he is one of the core pieces for the Penguins successes of the past years.
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Jake Gardiner
Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Jake Gardiner will dress up tonight against the Penguins. Gardiner, who was pulled early on Wednesday in the game against Columbus, leads all defenseman on the team in points. Only the development of Morgan Rielly in to a truly elite talent prevents Jake Gardiner from being the Leafs best defenseman. Regardless, he’s still amazing and still one of the NHL’s most criminally underrated players.
Jake Gardiner confirmed against former teammate Phil Kessel that he is good to go for tonight. Gardiner also talked about his “injury” a little bit. When asked what happened he replied “Couldn’t tell you. That’s never happened before. I can’t remember getting hit weird or anything … must have been a quick movement that caused it.”
Gardiner confirms (to Kessel) that he's good to go tonight
— Mark Masters (@markhmasters) February 17, 2018
Phil was walking past Jake as the Leafs d-man was on his way to media session & asked his former teammate if he was good to go
Toronto Maple Leafs
The Toronto Maple Leafs will face a team that has been dominating at home, winning their last 10 home games. The Toronto Maple Leafs come in riding a five-game winning streak, so one streak will come to an end here. Both teams have impressive records of late, Toronto is 9-1-0 in their last 10 games as Pittsburgh is 8-1-1 in their last 10 games. Making tonight’s matchup an interesting one.
Pittsburgh will have to try to shut down one of the hottest lines in the league right now, the Nazem Kadri line. Kadri, who recorded a career-high 5 points against Columbus, has tallied 15 points in the last 10 games. His line-mate Marner hasn’t been shy in tallying points either, riding a three-game point streak with eight points.
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With these two teams at the top of their game right now, it will be a hard-fought battle. But I do predict the Toronto Maple Leafs will beat the Penguins in the same fashion as earlier in the season 4 -3, with again a goal from Kadri.
Enjoy the game!