These Are the Days of Our Lives: Maple Leafs vs the Dramatic Canucks

The Toronto Maple Leafs vs the Vancouver Canucks

Jan 9, 2025; Raleigh, North Carolina, USA;  Toronto Maple Leafs right wing Mitch Marner (16) takes a shot against the Carolina Hurricanes during the second period at Lenovo Center. Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-Imagn Images
Jan 9, 2025; Raleigh, North Carolina, USA; Toronto Maple Leafs right wing Mitch Marner (16) takes a shot against the Carolina Hurricanes during the second period at Lenovo Center. Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-Imagn Images | James Guillory-Imagn Images

Oh my god you guys did you like totally hear about Elias Petersson? He is in a fight with J.T Miller after - and we are speculating here - Sammy's baby turned out to be Lucas's the whole time, and she only used J.T to make him jelly because Kate and Stefano were manipulating her, meanwhile Elias saw the whole thing but couldn't remember, on account of the amnesia....

And what's this about a built-in excuse about the weather and a late flight? Come on boys, grow up!

The only thing more embarssing than the Canucks dressing room drama was Elliotte Friedman's report last week that the Canucks will trade either one of them, both of them, or none of them. With even the benifit of being an NHL Indisder, I can tell you that not only is that still the case, but it's also the case with any two players you can name.

Anyways, in case you haven't guessed, it's Canucks vs Maple Leafs tonight at the old ACC.

These Are the Days of Our Lives: Maple Leafs vs the Drama Boys

The Toronto Maple Leafs are going to go with Dennis Hildeby tonight, which is kind of weird since they didn't play yesterday and don't play tomorrow. You would also think they'd want to keep it going with Joseph Woll who was good on Saturday and Tuesday, and couldn't really be considered at fault Thursday.

Then again, the Leafs have a good record and there's no use running Woll into the ground, given his frequent injury situation. The Canucks meanwhile will likely go with Kevin Lankinen but it hasn't been confirmed.

The Leafs are coming off of a terrible game against the Hurricanes that they lost 6-3 and in which that score was fairly complimentary to them. Before that, however, they won five in a row, so things are generally good.

The Leafs are 3 points out of first overall in the entire National Hockey League, and have had a very successful season to date by any measure. Still, they are 19th in Expected Goals Percentage and 4th in 5v5 Save Percentage, which suggests that regression is going to eat them alive in the second half.

One good thing for avoiding that, however, is that they haven't really gotten too much out of Auston Matthews so far this season. Should he be healthy and dominant the second-half, it won't matter too much if the Leafs goaltending drops off.

Unfortunately, the Leafs lineup tonight looks pretty bad. With no Jake McCabe, the Leafs are going to dress OEL on the top pairing and also Phillippe Myers in the top four. Hopefully they can still pull it out, but you would think a team that has been contending as long as the Leafs wouldn't have to dress such a bad blue-line just because Jake McCabe is out. I mean, McCabe is good, but he shouldn't be this crucial.

That said, it seems at least possible that Vancouver will implode with an inter-team brawl halfway through the game - if media reports are to be believed!

Schedule