The Toronto Maple Leafs return home tonight with the hopes of erasing their previous effort on Thursday night in New York.
There’s nothing quite like a showdown with the Buffalo Sabres to help a team get back on track.
Despite a recent stretch of decidedly strong play, the Leafs are reeling right now due to the putrid effort they put forth in Long Island earlier this week for John Tavares’ return home. Taking on the 19th place Sabres, at home, and on Hockey Night in Canada is exactly what they need. In fact, it should serve as the perfect opportunity for them to reaffirm their status as legitimate Cup contenders.
Let’s take a quick gander at the various pre-game headlines.
Everyone is Injured
After taking a nasty spill into the boards on Wednesday versus Edmonton, Travis Dermott has been officially ruled to have suffered a shoulder injury and will miss the next four week, at a minimum. Pairing Dermott’s loss along with the yet-to-be-determined absence of Jake Gardiner, and the Leafs’ blueline is in a state of serious flux at the moment.
This has led to a constantly shuffling bottom pair, as a result.
Justin Holl, mercifully, suited up for just his third game of the season on Thursday, and will now reportedly sit again tonight as Igor Ozhiganov slides in to take his place alongside Martin Marincin.
Igor Ozhiganov will be back in the Maple Leafs' lineup Saturday versus Buffalo.
— luke fox (@lukefoxjukebox) March 1, 2019
It makes sense, in a vacuum. Both Holl and Ozhiganov are right-handed shots, and with Ron Hainsey unlikely to take the night off, that leaves Marincin as the only remaining left-shot option to anchor the third pair. Someone had to sit.
Hot on the heels of an abysmal loss, that person ended up being Holl.
Nic Petan Making Debut
Another reported lineup move ahead of tonight’s matchup pertains to one of the Leafs’ new arrivals.
Nic Petan, acquired at the trade deadline for Par Lindholm, is set to make his debut with the team tonight on a line with Trevor Moore and Frederik Gauthier. As a result, Tyler Ennis will be a healthy scratch, despite producing 3 points in his last 5 games.
As a pending RFA, getting a look at what Petan can potentially offer the Leafs is incredibly important. Petan is eligible to receive a qualifying offer in the summer and, depending on how well he assimilates into Toronto’s lineup, could establish himself as a long-term piece moving forward.
Lugging Gauthier around may make that relatively difficult tonight. Then again, if Moore can do it, there’s a good chance Petan can, too.
Puck drops at 7:00 PM