Toronto Maple Leafs Enter “the Shark Tank” to Kick Off Road Trip

Coming off a win against the Canucks Saturday night, the Toronto Maple Leafs are looking to continue the momentum against the three California teams. Starting With the Sharks tonight.

The Toronto Maple Leafs currently have a three game winning streak after picking up big wins over the Lightning, Panthers and most recently the Canucks Saturday night.

They will be looking to continue that momentum against the Sharks tonight, and eventually the Kings and Ducks to finish off the California trip.

Looking to have history on their side too, the Maple Leafs are going into this trip winning nine straight games against the California teams dating back to last season.

Toronto Maple Leafs vs Sharks

Coming into tonight’s matchup against the Sharks the Maple Leafs have a record of 35-23-8 (78pts) and the Sharks have a record of 28-33-4 (60pts)

A similar storyline for these two teams coming into tonight’s game as well with both teams missing some key guys on each side. Toronto missing important players like Rielly, Muzzin, Johnsson & Mikheyev, as well as the Sharks missing  two top players in Hertl & Karlsson.

Last time these two teams met was in Toronto way earlier on in the season when Babcock was still behind the bench and Toronto picked up the two points with a 4-1 win.

At the time San Jose was not playing up to their standards and were bottom of the league, and fast forward to almost the end of the season they still are. So this is a very important game for Toronto to win and grab the two points. (Stats from thescore.com)

Chasing History

Auston Matthews is chasing history as a Toronto Maple Leaf and he might be able to not just tie the record in goals as a Leaf, but he may just break the record too! Matthews who is at 45 goals this season is ten goals away from breaking the record for most goals from a Leaf in a season with 54 set by Rick Vaive.

With games against the Sharks, Kings, & Ducks I believe Matthews might be able to hit 50 by the end of the California road trip. I’m not saying he is going to get five goals in three games but it is very possible he can get it done.

On the other hand another player chasing history is William Nylander. Nylander can be the first Nylander to hit the 30 goal mark, his father Michael never hit that mark but was a 20 goal scorer multiple times. With one goal away from 30, William might get that 30th goal during this California trip, especially against San Jose tonight. (Stats from NHL.com)

Bringing Company on the Trip

It was reported that the Toronto Maple Leafs were bringing along all the injured players during the California road trip and that Morgan Rielly, Cody Ceci, and Ilya Mikheyev are expected to start practising again during their trip.

per Mark Masters via Twitter.

After the annual California trip for the Toronto Maple Leafs against the Sharks, Kings, & the Ducks, the Maple Leafs next three games are pretty tough as they play the Lightning, Predators, & the Bruins.

After those three games they still have to play the Islanders, Panthers, Lightning again, Hurricanes, & Capitals. Safe to say the remaining games for the Toronto Maple Leafs are far from easy and every point matters in this situation.

The Lightning have one win in their last five games and the Toronto Maple Leafs have four wins in their last five games. It is possible that Toronto could maybe catch Tampa Bay for second place in the Atlantic and get home ice advantage but Tampa would have to lose at least half of their remaining games and Toronto would have to continue their winning ways. They would especially have to beat Tampa in their last two meetings of the season.

Per Sheldon Keefe at yesterday’s practice, goalie Jack Campbell will get the start against the Sharks. Rookie defenseman Rasmus Sandin will sit out the game and Timothy Liljegren will slot back into the lineup.

It all gets underway tonight in San Jose between the Maple Leafs and the Sharks on Sportsnet Ontario at 10:30pm Eastern Time.