Toronto Maple Leafs: Nazem Kadri Returns
By Josh Tessler
Tonight, the Toronto Maple Leafs will take on the Boston Bruins in game five at TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts.
The Toronto Maple Leafs are down 3-1 in the series and need to win tonight to stay in the playoffs. In game four, the Toronto Maple Leafs out-shot the Bruins, but still come up short.
Toronto Maple Leafs Updates
The Toronto Maple Leafs will have Nazem Kadri back in the lineup. He received a three game suspension from the NHL’s Department of Player Safety after a controversial hit against Tommy Wingels in game one.
Kadri will rejoin his usual line-mates, Mitch Marner and Patrick Marleau on the second line. Over the course of the season, the trio have formed excellent chemistry. With Kadri back in the lineup, perhaps they’ll be able to create a ton of scoring chances in the Bruins’ zone.
Aside from Kadri re-joining the second line, Mike Babcock has made a number of changes to his offensive lines, per a report from TSN’s Mark Masters. He’s decided to move Connor Brown up to the first line to play alongside Auston Matthews and Zach Hyman.
Babcock has also decided to place Kasperi Kapanen on a line with James van Riemsdyk and Tyler Bozak. The final line will see William Nylander with Plekanec and Johnsson. This is a set-up with an elite scorer on every line, and none of these lines are a ‘fourth’ line. The Leafs will hope to break Boston’s suffocating home-ice defensive line matching dressing a deep, speed based lineup that should hopefully be able to exploit the Bruins weaker players.
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Boston Bruins Updates
For the Bruins, they haven’t made many changes. The one important thing to note for the Bruins is that all-star centre, Patrice Bergeron will likely be back in the lineup tonight. He missed game four with an injury, but participated in the Bruins’ morning skate at Warrior Arena in Brighton, Massachusetts. After practice, Bruce Cassidy, head coach of the Bruins talked to press and explained that he looked healthy and felt optimistic about Bergeron playing tonight. He’ll likely be a game-time decision.
In this series, Bergeron has been pivotal to the Bruins’ success. He has totaled 5 assists and 1 PPP. The Maple Leafs’ top defensive unit of Morgan Rielly and Ron Hainsey will likely be tasked with shutting down Bergeron and his line-mates, David Pastrnak and Brad Marchand.
Prediction & Notes
If the Toronto Maple Leafs can out-shoot and have similar possession statistics as they did in game four, they hopefully can grab a win. As mentioned prior, they just need to crash the net. If they shoot from afar, Tuukka Rask is likely to swallow save after save.
Next: A Must Read Game Five Primer
My prediction is that the Maple Leafs will beat the Bruins by a score of 5-4.
Puck drop will be at approximately 8:05 PM EST. The game can be found on CBC in Canada and NBC in the United States.
stats from NHL.com