The Toronto Maple Leafs are coming off of a 5-3 win versus their fellow Atlantic Division rival the Buffalo Sabres. The game saw a stellar performance from assistant captain John Tavares who logged 3 goals earning himself his 14th NHL hat trick. The usual suspects also contributed to the offense having Matthews, Nylander and Marner each log one assist.
Perhaps the most important take away from that game was that Max Domi had a pulse notching his first goal of the year as well as an assist. This was his first point of any kind in 16 games, hopefully the forward is back on track to live up to the contract he signed in July. Nicholas Robertson also showed signs of life in Sundays game contributing one goal and one helper. These supplementary forwards are the players that the Toronto Maple Leafs need to stay hot in order to keep finding success in the offensive zone.
The Leafs find themselves up against the Dallas Stars on the road tonight. The Stars have won their last two games, in big part to there goaltender Jake Oettinger who allowed just one goal in each of those contests. Oettinger will be tested by the Leafs tonight and has historically failed when answering the call against them. However this season he is top 5 in the league for GAA, SV% and wins, we will see tonight if he can break his pattern of losing to the Leafs.
The Dallas Stars are in the highly competitive Central division and are currently in 3rd behind the Winnipeg Jets and the Minnesota Wild, two of the best teams in the league this season. The Stars will provide a challenge for the Leafs, a challenge that they will over come if there record against Dallas is any indication. (All stats nhl.com)
Toronto Maple Leafs vs Dallas Stars Game Preview: Will Toronto Continue Their Six Game Win Streak?
When and Where: 7:30 PM Wednesday available on Sportsnet and ESPN+
Last Ten Games: The last ten games the Leafs have played against the Stars have usually gone the Leafs way winning 8 out of the 10 contests, outscoring there opponent 39-22. The last time the Leafs lost to them, Fredrick Andersen was still between the pipes with 0.842 GAA and Jason Spezza was still on the roster.
The last time these two teams met was in February of this year where the Leafs won 5-4, capitalizing on all 3 of their power play opportunities and having all the members of the core 4 notching goals with Nylander getting two.
Injury Report: From Toronto Anthony Stolarz is out with a lower body injury, Calle Jarnkrok and Jani Hakanpaa remain injured and out of the line up as well. The stars are dealing with some impactful injuries as well missing Tyler Seguin with a hip injury, Matt Dumba with an upper body injury and most impactful Thomas Harley who missed Mondays matchup against Washington with an Illness and also leads the Stars in plus minus.
Head to Head Stats: The Leafs and Stars are similar in many stat categories like SV% (.909 VS .908) GF/G (2.97 to 3.23), GA/G (2.61 VS 2.50), PK% (82.08 vs 83.91), PP% (19.79% vs 18.28). Both these teams are very similar statistically, even in advanced stats like HDF% (high danger chances in the teams favour) the Leafs register 51.0% and the stars 52.9% at 5 on 5. (Stats Hockey-Reference.com)
One interesting stat to note - in the last ten contest between these teams Oettiinger has played only twice against the Leafs, each time letting in four goals against. Will history repeat itself tonight or will Oettinger continue to play at an elite level. Only time will tell.
Final Verdict: This game will be competitive as both these teams having similar statistics. The Leafs beating the Stars 8 out of their last 10 games they have what it takes to beat them . The Maple Leafs 6 game win streak against the Stars is impressive and they will seek to continue it tonight.
The leafs have not played the stars yet this season which makes this matchup an interesting one to watch as both squads have developed and changed whether its through coaching, trades, or free agency acquisitions. With this being Chris Tanevs first matchup against his old team since joining the leafs I expect him to play with some extra drive and determination tonight to ensure the Leafs win.
The Toronto Maple Leafs will need their big scorers to show up tonight as they currently have the most expensive first line ever in the NHL with Marner, Nylander and Matthews playing together. The supplementary scorers mentioned earlier will also need to be awake tonight in order to test Oettinger and the stars and put pucks in the net. It will be a challenging game tonight, but it is a task that they have proven they are up to.