The Toronto Maple Leafs and the Survival of the Fittest

It’s Hockey Night in Canada – the Toronto Maple Leafs vs. the Boston Bruins.

After game seven, back in April, the Toronto Maple Leafs are ready for the fight of their lives against the Boston Bruins.

Both teams are riddled with injuries as John Tavares is out for the Maple Leafs with a broken finger and Boston will be without David Krejci and Joakim Nordstrom.

Toronto is looking to gain ground in the Atlantic division. With nine points, Toronto can tie the Bruins for 2nd place with a win in tonight’s game.

Frederik Andersen is comes into this game with a .893 save percentage through six games. Yet, the Danish net-minder has come out with four wins and only two losses.

Tuukka Rask is without a regulation loss through four games. The 32-year-old sits 4th in the NHL with a .946 save percentage and a 1.72 goals against average.

The starting lineups.

While Tavares is out with an injury, MIke Babcock and his staff changed the lines ahead of tonight’s game:

Mitch Marner won’t be in familiar territory as he plays his first game alongside Alexander Kerfoot and Ilya Mikheyev. The same goes with Jason Spezza, who’s only played in three games this season and is centring the third line.

The first line for the Bruins includes the usual – David Pastrnak, Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand, who’ve combined for 31 points in seven games.

Auston Matthews is ready for the challenge of taking on Bergeron at centre, “it’s always tough going against a guy like that, especially in the face-off dot,” says Matthews, “you gotta make sure your bearings are down, and making sure you know where he’s at, at all times.” (Leafs Youtube Channel).

Along with Matthews – Kerfoot is also taking on a challenge; playing 2nd line centre.

“I’m just trying to do the best in the roles that I’m playing in,” says Kerfoot on the opportunity to move up in the lineup, “there’s lots of good players in this team, so no matter where you’re playing you’re going to be playing with good line-mates, but obviously playing with Marns (Marner) is a big responsibility.”

It’s an interesting matchup for both teams, who will definitely come out flying for this game. The last time they played was on April 23rd in game seven, when Boston eliminated Toronto.

Could we see the Maple Leafs take control and show that they’re now the better team, or will Boston show that, even with their older lineup, they can still get the job done against the young guns?