Tonight, the Toronto Maple Leafs are on the road to take on the New Jersey Devils.
The Toronto Maple Leafs are facing a Devils squad who is fighting for a wild card spot in the Eastern Conference. Currently, the Devils sit in seventh place with 95 points. If they beat the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Florida Panthers lose to the Boston Bruins, the Devils will have clinched a spot in the playoffs.
New Jersey Devils
While the Devils aren’t as strong as the Toronto Maple Leafs, they have a good team. The Devils have a 2.98 GF/GP, 2.92 GA/GP, 21.7 PP% and a 81.9 PK%. They are a middle of the pack offensive team, but their penalty kill has shown that its capable of shutting down the league’s best power-play units.
They are led by Taylor Hall. He’s been outstanding. At this point in time, he has 39 goals, 54 assists, 13 PPG and 37 PPP. If the Toronto Maple Leafs expect to leave the Garden State with two points, they’ll really need to focus on Hall.
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Aside from Hall, the Devils have a group of young talented forwards including Nico Hischier and Kyle Palmeri. While Hischier won’t likely be taking home the Calder Trophy, he has been solid in New Jersey. This season, he has been excellent when playing 5v5, but when he’s on the power-play he’s very abysmal. In 80 games, he has registered 19 goals, 32 assists, 1 PPG and 6 PPP.
On the other hand, Palmeri is the opposite. He’s been great on the power-play, but isn’t as special 5v5. In 61 games, he has posted 24 goals, 20 assists, 11 PPG and 23 PPP.
While the Devils offense is vigorous, their net-minding is shaky. Both, Keith Kinkaid and Cory Schneider have a GAA higher than the NHL league average of 2.78. If the Devils expect to beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, their goal-tending will have to be in tip top shape.
Toronto Maple Leafs
On the other side of the ice, the Maple Leafs are coming off of a 5-2 win against the Buffalo Sabres on Monday night. The Maple Leafs will be looking to finish off the season strong and shut down the Devils.
Yesterday, TSN’s Mark Masters attending the Maple Leafs practice and tweeted out Mike Babcock’s lines.
Lines at Leafs practice
— Mark Masters (@markhmasters) April 4, 2018
Hyman-Matthews-Nylander
Marleau-Kadri-Marner
JvR-Bozak-Brown
Komarov-Plekanec-Kapanen
Johnsson, Leivo
Rielly-Hainsey
Gardiner-Zaitsev
Carrick-Polak
Martin-Moore
Andersen
McElhinney
* Dermott departed early
Masters shared that Maple Leafs’ defenseman, Travis Dermott participated in practice but left early. On Saturday night, Dermott was nailed with a slap shot from Winnipeg Jets defenseman, Ben Chariot. The shot landed onto Dermott’s left ankle and the pain from shot caused Dermott to miss the rest of the game. Since Dermott left practice early, it seems rather doubtful that he’ll return tonight against the Devils.
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Aside from Dermott, it appears as if the only change in the Maple Leafs lines is that Leo Komarov is back in the lineup. He was a healthy scratch on Monday night when the Maple Leafs played Buffalo and will likely return to the lineup tonight. Komarov will take Andreas Johnsson’s place in the lineup. Johnsson has been in and out of the lineup since the return of Komarov. Perhaps, he’ll find his way back into the lineup on Saturday night against the Montreal Canadiens.
Puck drop will be at approximately 7:05 PM EST and the game can be found on TSN4.
stats from NHL.com