The Toronto Maple Leafs will be looking for their fourth win in a row tonight when they take on the Philadelphia Flyers.
The Maple Leafs will be hosting the Flyers, who they are yet to play this season. The Flyers were expected to be among the worst teams in the NHL, but have been suprirsingly competitive and are only 2 points out of a playoff spot right now.
The Leafs, winners of three in a row and four of their last five, are in first place in the Atlantic Division and only three points behind the massively over-achieving Washington Capitals.
The Las Vegas Golden Knights are in first overall currently, but the Leafs are only five points behind them in the President's Trophy race.
Maple Leafs vs Flyers
The Flyers are coming off a 5-2 loss to the Knights, and have lost two of their last three games.
The Leafs will be going with Denis Hildeby for this one, since it's a back-to-back game and since they sent Matt Murray back to the AHL last week.
The Flyers will be going with Ivan Fedotov who has only played ten games this year, and whose numbers are absolutely brutal. Expect the Leafs to score a bunch tonight.
Speaking of scoring, the Leafs scored six times in a highly entertaining game last night, and three of those were the first career hat trick of Matthew Knies. Knies has been struggling lately, so the breakout game is extremely well timed. The Leafs have enough holes in the lineup, and if the can get by without having to upgrade on knies, so much the better.
Marner's five poing night moved him to just three points back of second-place Leon Draisaitl, unfortunately Nathan MacKinnon is a monster and still has a nine point lead, as he seemigly scores three points every time out.
Interestingly, Marner seems to be continuing to follow the career path of Nathan MacKinnon - which is good news for Leafs fans and bad news for fans who want Marner traded or who hope to see him sign a team-friendly contact extention.
The Leafs are expected to go with the same lineup they used last night, which is a great thing because it means Auston Mattews will suit of for back-to-back games, which is a key milestone in him being healthy enough to help the Leafs make a run at the President's Trophy and Atlantic Division Title.