Two days after the Toronto Maple Leafs and New Jersey Devils played each other in the Swamp the two teams are back at it against one another Thursday night at Scotiabank Arena.
The Toronto Maple Leafs were victorious on Tuesday evening against the Devils by a score of 5-2 on a night when Auston Matthews set the salary cap era single season goal scoring record with his 66th goal of the campaign passing Alex Ovechkin's mark set 16 years ago.
Not only did Matthews pass the "Great 8" he also tied one of, if not the greatest Maple Leaf ever Dave Keon for third in all time franchise goals scored at 365.
The soon to be three time Rocket Richard Trophy winner is now 24 goals away from catching Darryl Sittler for second, before he charges at Mats Sundin for the franchise record of 420, both of which he should pass next season.
Toronto Maple Leafs to Make Line-up Changes
Coach Sheldon Keefe will be making some line-up changes for the game Thursday night as Joel Edmundson and Ilya Lyubushkin are both slated to be dressing for the game after watching from the press box Tuesday night.
Lyubushkin was a trade deadline acquisition that the team was hoping would fill a similar role that Luke Schenn played last year that helped elevate Morgan Rielly's game, unfortunately that has not been the case. The second time Maple Leaf has struggled handling the puck and may have played himself out of the top six once the playoffs arrive.
Edmundson returns to the line-up after being out with an injury since March 24 and despite what some writers think, the former Stanley Cup champion is exactly what the club needs, a mean, hard to play against physical defenseman.
Both Conor Timmins and Jake McCabe will be healthy scratches for the game with McCabe getting some maintenance as Mark Masters reports he has some bumps and bruises.
Connor Dewar will also draw back in as the team looks to get their penalty kill back in order after surrendering a goal on Tuesday night, while Noah Gregor will return to the press box.
Maple Leafs Stars Look for Milestones
The Maple Leafs have an outside chance of still claiming home-ice in the first round, albeit a very small chance, so the two story lines are whether a couple of their stars can hit milestones.
The big chase is whether or not Auston Matthews can become just the ninth player in league history to score 70-goals and the first since Alex Mogilny and Teemu Selänne each scored 76 in 1992-93. Matthews currently sits four goals shy with as many games left and the question is whether or not he will dress for each of the remaining games. The Arizona native has a six game scoring streak where he has collected seven goals, while also having a 12-game points streak where he has tallied11 goals and 22 points.
The other player to chase a milestone is William Nylander trying to reach 100-points for the first time in his career and become just the fourth Maple Leafs player to do so. Nylander looked to be a lock to reach the mark as he had 94-points with 11 games remaining, unfortunately he has just two assists over his last seven games.
The game is on at 7PM Eastern and can be seen on Sportsnet Ontario or Sportsnet+.