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Toronto Maple Leafs: Game Day Headlines vs Nashville

By Mike Stephens|
TORONTO, ON - JANUARY 7: John Tavares #91 of the Toronto Maple Leafs skates with the puck against the Nashville Predators during the second period at the Scotiabank Arena on January 7, 2019 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Kevin Sousa/NHLI via Getty Images)
TORONTO, ON - JANUARY 7: John Tavares #91 of the Toronto Maple Leafs skates with the puck against the Nashville Predators during the second period at the Scotiabank Arena on January 7, 2019 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Kevin Sousa/NHLI via Getty Images)

Things are not going so great for the Toronto Maple Leafs right now.

Following an embarrassing loss to the 31st-place Ottawa Senators, the Leafs are now 1-3-1 over their past 5 games and 5-4-1 in their last 10. These woes have extended to all corners of Toronto’s roster, with Frederik Andersen experiencing one of his worst slumps as a Leaf, the blueline demonstrating a complete inability to shut down opponents, and the forward corps struggling to generate much in the way of offence, Friday’s 7-goal outburst against Philadelphia notwithstanding.

The Leafs are essentially playing their worst possible hockey at the worst possible time right now. And with a mere 10 games left on the schedule, time is running out for them to right the ship.

Unfortunately, tonight may not offer them the best opportunity to do that. The Leafs will head to Nashville for an intra-conference meeting with the Predators, who sit 11th overall in the NHL standings despite being in the midst of a similarly tough 5-5-0 stretch in their last 10.

Let’s take a quick look at some of the pre-game headlines.

Gauthier Out

In a somewhat surprising development, the Leafs announced on Monday that Frederik Gauthier would not be travelling with the team on their upcoming road trip due to a foot injury.

With Gauthier the next member of the Leafs roster to land on the shelf, Nic Petan will slide in and take over centre duties on the fourth line.

There really couldn’t be more dramatic of a contrast between what Gauthier and Petan bring to their depth roles, respectively. Petan is a diminutive player with a higher-end skill set and more offensive flair, while Gauthier is a hulking pivot who thrives most in a defensively-focused game.

There is merit to both. At the very least, however, Toronto’s fourth line just got a heck of a lot faster.

Three Straight Games of Holl

Another shocking twist to Mike Babcock‘s lines is the continued presence of Justin Holl, who is now set to play in a third straight game tonight for the first time in his NHL career.

Holl certainly had a bit of an up and down weekend recently, with a great showing on Friday and a marked step back the next night versus Ottawa. Still, the 27-year-old has shown flashes of promise in the brief stints he’s spent in the Leafs’ lineup and his puck moving ability offers more to the team at this moment than the contributions of Igor Ozhiganov.

Set to line up alongside Martin Marincin yet again, Holl will face perhaps his greatest test yet in containing an aggressive Nashville attack.

Back to Freddy

Per DailyFaceoff, Frederik Andersen is set to make his 54th start of the season in the hopes of regaining his prior Vezina-calibre form. With save percentages of .793, .714, and .789 in his last three outings, according to HockeyReference, the Leafs need Andersen to get back on track for the team to have any hope of playing meaningful hockey into June.

Pekka Rinne will settle into the starter’s crease at the other end.

Thanks for reading! Puck drops at 8 PM.

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