Toronto Maple Leafs Look to Make It 16 vs the Rangers

The Toronto Maple Leafs will take on the New York Rangers tonight in NYC.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are coming off an outrageous beatdown of the Mighty Ducks that they won 7-0.  In one of the craziest games of the season, Matthews and Nylander failed to score, while Alex Kerfoot scored twice.

The Rangers are coming off of a overtime win against the Devils.

The Leafs are sitting three points back of Boston in the standings , while the Rangers are barely holding down the final Wild Card spot.

The Leafs are 3rd overall and have just one less regulation win than the Bruins.  The Rangers are 12th overall and have a 15-10-5 record.

The two teams have not met this season yet, but the Rangers are deceptively good.  Their record includes five OT losses, and those could just as easily be 5 OT wins.  If they had those wins, they’d be a top team, and they should be seen as a top team regardless of what the standings say in December.

The Rangers are deep, have a ton of stars, have a ton of really talented players who will eventually be stars, and their goalie is awesome. They have won four in a row, and are one of the NHL’s best teams, as the end of the year standings will surely indicate.

Toronto Maple Leafs vs the New York Rangers

The Leafs will use Matt Murray tonight despite the fact that Ilya Samsonov is coming off back-to-back shutouts.  Murray has been no slouch himself, so it’s probably best for the platoon to keep splitting games for now.

The Rangers will go with Igor Shesterkin who is not having the same success he had last year when he won the Vezina trophy and took the Rangers to the Final Four.

That’s goalies for ya.

The Leafs will continue with Denis Malgin besides William Nylander and John Tavares, while Mitch Marner will be looking for a point in his 23rd straight game.

The Leafs themselves have points in 15 straight games.  I am told if they get a point tonight they will tie a record. I can’t keep track of all the records.  I think they set a record for the most records set.

Whatever.

I am loving this team. Timmins, Malgin, Holmberg and Anderson make it fun to tune in just to see the kids.  Then there is Justin Holl and whatever he’s eating for breakfast is clearly working, and to see the likes of him and Matt Murray having success just warms the old valve.  The duo of Sandin and Liljegren is exciting, and that’s not even mentioning the four or five superstars they have, or the fact that two of their best players are injured.

Let’s say tonight will be 6-2 Leafs.  You have now been game previewed.