The Toronto Maple Leafs will take on the Columbus Blue Jackets today.
The game is at 7:30 and will be at the Scotiabank Arena. The game will be on sportsnet, and if the Toronto Maple Leafs win, it will be their 4th in a row.
The Leafs are currently up by three points on the Florida Panthers in the Atlantic Division, which they need to win to have a shot at the Stanley Cup, otherwise they must run a ridiculous gauntlet to do so.
The Blue Jackets lost their last game, but they are only a single point out of the Wild Card spot right now.
Maple Leafs vs CBJ + A Prospect Is Summoned and Another Player Goes on the I.R
It's too bad the Leafs didn't pursue Zach Werenski like I have been urging them to do for years, because this year he's been healthy, found himself on a half-decent team, and he's exploded to be one of, if not the very best, defenseman in the NHL.
Werenski is having one hell of a year, and if the season ended right now, he would for sure be a Norris Trophy nominee.
Speaking of end of season awards, a routine eight-point night would vault Mitch Marner into the NHL's scoring lead and put him on track to win the Hart Trophy!!!
Tonight's goalies will be Dennis Hildeby for the Leafs and Daniil Tarasov for the Blue Jackets, though the latter is unconfirmed.
The Leafs have placed Max Pacioretty on the I.R, which means two-thirds of their second line is on the I.R right now. That sounds bad, but what do you expect when they combine to be 70 years old?
Pacioretty started out great when the Leafs first signed him and I had to eat my words (which said that he was a terrible signing who would take minutes from players the Leafs need to be developing). At the time I wrote that, Pacioretty had a 59% Expected Goals and was hitting everything in sight.
But then Pacioretty was injured and missed a month. And since he's come back he's been terrible. The Leafs are losing his minutes and he's only posting a 48% Expected Goals Rating. He was great at the start of the season, but he's not top-six material anymore and his injury is likely a blessing in disguise as it will give more ice time to Nick Robertson and Bobby McMann, both of whom deserve to play above Pacioretty in the lineup. (stats naturalstattrick.com).
To replace Pacioretty in the lineup, the Leafs have recalled Jacob Quillan, an undrafted left shooting forward with six goals in 35 games.