Tomas Plekanec has arrived in Tampa and is on the ice for the Toronto Maple Leafs morning skate.
Kristen Shilton of TSN tweeted out a video of Plekanec jumping onto the ice at the Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida. Additionally, he is rocking his turtleneck and a brand new number. Plekanec chose to go with the number 19 as the number 14 was retired for former Toronto Maple Leaf, Dave Keon.
There’s the newest Maple Leaf Tomas Plekanec arriving for morning skate in Tampa. Clean-shaven and wearing #19 (with a turtleneck) pic.twitter.com/KR38UguZjI
— Kristen Shilton (@kristen_shilton) February 26, 2018
Plekanec was acquired yesterday in a trade with the Montreal Canadiens. So far this season, Plekanec has 6 goals and 18 assists. Unfortunately for Plekanec, his shooting percentage is the lowest of his career. Currently, his shooting percentage is 4.8%. Perhaps, playing among new teamates including Josh Leivo and Leo Komarov will turn that around. But it doesn’t even matter if it does or not. Plekanec was acquired for his awesome defense, and he’ll provide that regardless of how much he scores.
Toronto Maple Leafs
Earlier today, Jonas Siegel of The Athletic tweeted out the lines that the Toronto Maple Leafs will likely roll with tonight against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
William Nylander will remain at centre tonight by the looks of it. Dominic Moore out:
— Jonas Siegel (@jonassiegel) February 26, 2018
Marleau-Kadri-Marner
Hyman-Nylander-Kapanen
Van Riemsdyk-Bozak-Brown
Komarov-Plekanec-Leivo
Due to the acquisition and Auston Matthews‘ shoulder injury, Mike Babcock has altered his offensive lines.
Babcock will likely go with a top line of Patrick Marleau, Nazem Kadri and Mitch Marner. As of late, Kadri and Marner have been superb. In the last five games, Kadri and Marner have totaled 5 goals and 5 assists. In addition, they both were extremely vital in the win over the Boston Bruins on Saturday night. Perhaps, Marner and Kadri can light a fire under Marleau.
According to Siegel, Babcock will go with Zach Hyman, William Nylander and Kasperi Kapanen on his second line. Personally, I love this line. This line offers a lot of speed and play-making abilities. If the Toronto Maple Leafs grab a win in Tampa tonight, this line will need to excel.
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The third line will stay the same. Tyler Bozak will centre the line and James van Riemsdyk and Connor Brown will play on the wings.
As mentioned earlier, Plekanec will centre the fourth line with Komarov and Leivo on the wings. Personally, I’m interested to see how the fourth line performs with a strong offensive centreman. Hopefully, Plekanec will mesh well with Leivo on what is easily the best fourth line in the NHL.
Moving to the defensive zone, there most likely won’t be many changes to the lines. Unless Lou Lamoriello moves a rostered player before 3 pm, the defensive lines will likely stay the same.
Tampa Bay Lightning
The Toronto Maple Leafs have a very tough opponent tonight. The Tampa Bay Lightning are one of the strongest teams in both the offensive and defensive zones.
I’ll start with the two offensive leaders for the Lightning. Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov have totaled 152 points this seasons for the Bolts. Morgan Rielly and Ron Hainsey will likely see a lot of ice-time against Stamkos and Kucherov tonight. They’ll have to play strong in the defensive zone for the Maple Leafs to grab a win.
Aside from Stamkos and Kucherov, the Bolts have a lot of offensive depth including Yanni Gourde, Vladislav Namestnikov, Tyler Johnson, Alex Killorn and Ondrej Palat. The Toronto Maple Leafs will have their hands full tonight and will need to play strong in the defensive zone.
In addition, Tampa has a lot of talent on the blue line. Victor Hedman and Mikhali Sergachev have been electric for Tampa, especially on the power-play. Hedman and Sergachev have combined for 32 PPP.
Last but not least, the Bolts have an elite net-minder in net. Andrei Vasilevskiy is having an un-real season. Currently, he holds a GAA of 2.34 and a SV% of .927. Vasilevskiy will be a top choice to grab the Vezina at the NHL Award ceremony.
Prediction & Notes
All-in-all, the Toronto Maple Leafs have an extremely tough matchup tonight in Tampa. Personally, I predict that this game goes to overtime and the Leafs win 4-3 over the Lightning.
The game can be found on Sportsnet and the puck drop will be at approximately 7:35 pm EST.
stats from NHL.com