The Toronto Maple Leafs are back in action tonight against the Nashville Predators in their last game of their first homestand of the 2026-27 season. Unfortunately, it hasn't been as successful as they originally had hoped. With all the hype that was surrounding the organization, they only managed one win in the first three games, which also included two losses that they held the lead in.
To no surprise, there has been a lot of chatter regarding the losses, the effort or even who has skipped optional practice. That's normal; they are in the hockey mecca of the world. If things were going well, there would be no talk about anything. Sadly, things haven't gone great; there have been some growing pains that come with having 10+ new players on a roster. That should have been expected by most of the fan base and the media. But, again, it's Toronto, so there is always some part of the game being picked apart.
Nevertheless, there is a game tonight against the aforementioned Predators, and it is a winnable game. It's one that the Maple Leafs need to find a way to collect at least a point in, so here are the projected lineups for the game at the Scotiabank Arena.
Maple Leafs projected lineup
Kirill Marchenko -- Auston Matthews -- Jack Roslovic
Gavin McKenna -- John Tavares -- William Nylander
Easton Cowan -- Nick Paul -- Colton Sissons
Brandon Duhaime -- Teddy Blueger -- Bo Groulx
Morgan Rielly -- Darren Raddysh
Jake McCabe -- Chris Tanev
Oliver Ekman-Larsson -- Troy Stecher
Anthony Stolarz
Sergei Bobrovsky
Scratched: Zack MacEwen, Nick Blankenburg
Injured: Dakota Joshua (core), Max Domi (undisclosed)
Based on the early projections for the Maple Leafs' lineup tonight, it looks like there aren't many changes. The forward lines are staying the same, as are the defence pairings. The only major difference is the goalies are swapping, so it'll be Anthony Stolarz between the pipes for his second game tonight.
The only major change that should have been made is the insertion of Zack MacEwen; he has only played in one game this season and played well. However, since the season opener it has been Bo Groulx, who has also played well. But MacEwen does deserve another chance in the lineup, and there is no point in leaving him in the press box for weeks and then expecting him to get back into the lineup and be productive.
Other than that small change, the lineup is exactly what most would have expected, as they look to move back to .500 on the season.
Predators projected lineup
Steven Stamkos -- Ryan O’Reilly -- Alexander Kerfoot
Filip Forsberg -- Matthew Wood -- Nils Hoglander
Ross Colton -- Mavrik Bourque -- Jonathan Marchessault
Reid Schaefer -- Jack Drury -- Adam Edstrom
Nicolas Hague -- Roman Josi
Brady Skjei -- Nick Perbix
William Trudeau -- Adam Wilsby
Juuse Saros
Matt Murray
Scratched: Ilya Lyubushkin, Jack Ahcan, Vitali Pinchuk
Injured: Justus Annunen (undisclosed)
Puck drop is set for 7:00 at Scotiabank Arena. After tonight's game, the Maple Leafs are heading for a West Coast swing.
Add us as a preferred source on Google