The Toronto Maple Leafs are on a three-game winning streak right now. They will be looking to keep it going against the Edmonton Oilers tonight. Tonight is Zach Hyman’s return to Toronto since signing with the Oilers as a free agent during the summer.
Edmonton has a 2-6-2 record in their last ten games, and they’ve lost four in a row. The Toronto Maple Leafs are 7-2-1 in their past ten games and have won three in a row. A Leafs win on Wednesday night would give the Oilers their 11th loss in their last 13 games.
The Leafs won their last game 6-0 against the Ottawa Senators, while the Oilers lost 4-1 to the New York Rangers. Toronto beat Edmonton 5-1 the last time these two teams met on December 14th. They will be looking for a similar outcome tonight.
Toronto has a 7-1-2 record against the Oilers in their last ten meetings. It would appear that tonight’s game favours Toronto, but we all know that wins are never guaranteed.
Toronto Maple Leafs vs Edmonton Oilers – January 5th, 2022
Auston Matthews missed practice on Tuesday morning after testing positive on a rapid Covid test. Luke Fox from Sportsnet reported on Tuesday afternoon that Auston Matthews’ PCR test was negative. Matthews is awaiting a second negative PCR test which would then allow him to play Wednesday night.
Auston Matthews’ PCR test was negative. Not ruled out of Wednesday’s game. Awaiting another test.
— luke fox (@lukefoxjukebox) January 4, 2022
While Toronto waits to find out the status of Matthews, Edmonton is going through the same issue with Connor McDavid who also tested positive for Covid on Tuesday and is waiting for the results of further testing.
Everyone would love to see Matthews vs McDavid, but health and safety must come first. We should find out by this afternoon if both players can play tonight. While writing this, David Alter from the Hockey News reported that Matthews will be skating today. That is a good indication that Matthews will be in the Toronto Maple Leafs lineup tonight.
Positive news today as Auston Matthews will be skating today. Certainly seems like his second test went well.
— David Alter (@dalter) January 5, 2022
Beating the Leafs in Toronto is not an easy thing to do with goaltender Jack Campbell in the net. Since joining the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 2019-20 season, Campbell has an impressive 20-4-1 record on home ice. That record is accompanied by a 2.05 GAA and a .927 SV% with four shutouts.(Stats from: hockey-reference.com)
This season, Campbell has an overall record of 16-5-2 with a 1.86 GAA and a .939 SV% with four shutouts. At home this season, Campbell is 11-3-1.
I do hope fans get to watch Matthews and McDavid go head to head. Matthews has said he plans on playing tonight as reported by David Alter. Now we wait to see if McDavid is able to as well. I am going to predict a 4-1 win for the Toronto Maple Leafs.