GDT: Bruins@Leafs 7PM CBC HNIC - MOD WARNING POST #16

[Budsfan]

GAMEDAY: Boston Bruins at Maple Leafs
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GAMEDAY: Boston Bruins at Maple Leafs

BOSTON BRUINS (25-15-4) at TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS (28-13-2)
7 p.m., Scotiabank Arena, CBC, TSN Radio 1050
BIG MATCHUP
Zdeno Chara vs. Zach Hyman
If one adheres to the adage that the bigger they are, the harder they fall, Zach Hyman has the ability to get in 6-foot-9 Zdeno Chara’s face and force the behemoth Bruins captain into forcing plays deep in the offensive zone. Now, Chara often bats away opposing forwards like flies no matter who they are, but if the line of John Tavares between Hyman and Mitch Marner goes up against Chara, there’s potential for Hyman to be disruptive.

FIVE KEYS TO THE GAME

1. Containing Patrice and pals

Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak long have tormented the Maple Leafs, and this season has been no different. In three previous meetings, the three have combined for 18 points (six goals and 12 assists), and Bergeron missed two of those games. Pastrnak especially has brought the Leafs grief, scoring 10 goals in 14 career games, including six on the power play. The Bruins have depth, but if the Leafs are able to keep this line under control, their chances of winning increase greatly.

1. Healthy doses?

Each club could be buoyed by the return of a crucial player. For the Leafs, that would be goaltender Frederik Andersen, who has missed the past seven games with a groin injury; for the Bruins, it’s defenceman Charlie McAvoy, who has recovered from a foot injury and is “trending” toward returning on Saturday, Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said. McAvoy has missed the past seven games. As much as Michael Hutchinson has performed admirably in Andersen’s absence, the Leafs are much better off with their Vezina Trophy candidate in goal.

1. Control the emotions

The Bruins will remain the Leafs’ mental barrier until Toronto beats them in the playoffs — or, perhaps, the Leafs manage to win the Stanley Cup at some point without having to face Boston. The Bruins’ most recent post-season series win against the Leafs, last spring, continues to resonate in the Boston room. “It’s becoming a very good rivalry,” Cassidy said. “It already was, but I think it’s growing. Positionally, it’s important we stay up with them. In that regard, it’s probably a little more than just your average two-point game.”

1. Down and away

It’s possible the Leafs might be able to take advantage of a Bruins club — despite its lofty place in the Atlantic Division standings — that has had middling results on the road. Boston is a mediocre 9-9-4 in road games, and has scored just 49 goals in those 22 games, 28th in the NHL in road games and ahead of only Anaheim, Los Angeles and St. Louis. Still, the Bruins have won three of their past four road games, while the Leafs have won more on the road (15 games) than they have at home (13).

1. Hyman at home

The return of Zach Hyman to the Leafs lineup on Thursday night in New Jersey paid off immediately, as he was instrumental on the forecheck and was a plus-4, tying his career high, done twice previously. We know that Hyman will bring the same kind of approach against the Bruins. How about that kind of mentality seeping through to the rest of the Leafs forwards? A heavier game against Boston not only will lead to a better chance of Toronto winning, it’s required against an experienced club that doesn’t fear anything.

MAPLE LEAFS LINES
LW-C-RW
Zach Hyman-John Tavares-Mitch Marner
Andreas Johnsson-Auston Matthews-Kasperi Kapanen
Patrick Marleau-Nazem Kadri-William Nylander
Par Lindholm-Frederik Gauthier-Connor Brown
Defence pairs
Morgan Rielly-Ron Hainsey
Jake Gardiner-Nikita Zaitsev
Travis Dermott-Igor Ozhiganov
Goaltenders
Michael Hutchinson
Frederik Andersen/Kasimir Kaskisuo
BRUINS LINES
LW-C-RW
Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-David Pastrnak
Jake DeBrusk-David Krejci-David Backes
Danton Heinen-Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson-Ryan Donato
Sean Kuraly-Noel Acciari-Chris Wagner
Defence pairs
Zdeno Chara-Charlie McAvoy
Torey Krug-Brandon Carlo
Matt Grzelcyk/John Moore-Kevan Miller
Goaltenders
Tuukka Rask
Jaroslav Halak
INJURIES
Bruins — D Urho Vaakanainen (concussion), F Joakim Nordstrom (leg).
Maple Leafs — F Tyler Ennis (ankle), G Garret Sparks (concussion).
SPECIAL TEAMS
Power play
Bruins: 28.2% (3rd)
Maple Leafs: 22.1% (8th)
Penalty kill
Bruins: 81.4% (10th)
Maple Leafs: 80.2% (14th)

Saturday game preview: Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Boston Bruins
By Kevin McGranSports Reporter
Fri., Jan. 11, 2019
SCOTIABANK ARENA
Faceoff: 7 p.m.

Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask has won his last four starts, with a 1.23 goals against average and .959 save percentage in that span. The Leafs host rival Boston Saturday night. (Paul Sancya / The Associated Press file photo)


TV: CBC, Sportsnet
Radio: TSN Radio 1050
KEY MATCHUP
David Pastrnak vs. William Nylander
The two are good friends, but Pastrnak has the edge here. The Bruins’ winger has five goals and three assists in three games against the Leafs this season. Nylander, under the gun to produce after signing his big contract, has a goal and two assists in 15 games since returning to the fold.
Need to know: Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask has won his last four starts, with a 1.23 goals against average and .959 save percentage in that span. Included in that stretch was his 42nd career shutout, his 250th career win. Rask is just three victories shy of passing Tiny Thompson (252) as the Bruins’ all-time wins leader … The Bruins have the league’s third-ranked power play (28.2 per cent) and 10th-ranked penalty kill (81.4 per cent) … Both teams made minor trades with Ottawa on Friday. The Leafs acquired forward Gabriel Gagne (a third-round pick in 2015) for forward Morgan Klimchuk, who spent less than two months in the Leaf organization, having been acquired in late November for defenceman Andrew Nielsen … Boston acquired forward Paul Carey for defenceman Cody Goloubef.
Up next: Monday, Colorado vs. Toronto, TSN, 7 p.m.

Click to read more...

 

[Cor]

If Hutch gives another solid performance and our team plays like they can, there’s no reason we can’t win this game.

But it’s Boston, so probably not, because our team tries to play a completely different game against the Bruins for some reason.

They’re in our heads.

Need a blowout win.

 

[Budsfan]

 

[Warden of the North]

If Hutch gives another solid performance and our team plays like they can, there’s no reason we can’t win this game.

But it’s Boston, so probably not, because our team tries to play a completely different game against the Bruins for some reason.

They’re in our heads.

Need a blowout win.

Exactly.

Massive game for positioning tonight too

 

[frog]

We need Hyman to step up, seems like one of the few guys that can handle tough teams like the bruins

 

[Budsfan]

 

[Cor]

Exactly.

Massive game for positioning tonight too

6 points ahead with a game in hand would be mighty nice.

 

[Mess]

We need Hyman to step up, seems like one of the few guys that can handle tough teams like the bruins

Hyman shows up all the time.

Interested to see if our team shows up tonight if the Bruins get physical however.

This will be an important game as to whom might get home ice in a potential playoff round faceoff.

 

[BrannigansLaw]

Let's go boys, hope to be hearing a lot of this tonight

 

[SniperOnTheWing]

This will be the game Nylander snaps, one-punch KO's Chara, and scores a hatty against the Bergeron line while Pastrnak hangs his head on the bench repeating ''he boomed me'' over and over.

 

[BertCorbeau]

So no Andy tonight?

 

[Budsfan]

 

[TheGroceryStick]

Sack up.
If this team isn't prepared for neutral zone clogged, less space, hard 60mins...than I don't know what to say.

This is where Nylander fully disappears, prove us wrong.

Prepare for Hyman getting ran a few times. Our PP needs, Needs ! To take advantage when we can

 

[Budsfan]

 

[SprDaVE]

So no Andy tonight?

We'll know soon. I think he'll back up tonight and play Monday, but I'm just guessing.

 

[BertCorbeau]

I'm going to copy the same warning from the last game against the Bruins since it still applies:

MOD WARNING:

There will be no tolerance of fan base/Bruins board bashing comments. This does not add any value in the discussion, provokes others, and derails threads.

In addition to this I would recommend that you DO NOT visit and post in the Bruins GDT/PGT. Your posts will not be well received regardless of the intent. We cannot help you over there. There has been too much crap built up built up in recent memory that Leaf posters get zero benefit of the doubt.

Finally we are working with Bruins mods for consistency in this. If you see Bruins posters come over here stirring up trouble, DO NOT respond and hurl insults. REPORT the post and the mods will handle it. And DO NOT throw insults at the moderators if we are slow to the draw. These threads get full quickly and are difficult to keep on top of even when our focus is fully on them. But we can't always have our complete attention dedicated to these threads, so have patience with us doing our jobs.

Additionally, there will be no continuous bashing of Leafs players in this thread by any posters.

Trolling infractions and thread bans will be applied without concern of your affiliation.

 

[Budsfan]

 

[Liminality]

Got to find a way to shutdown Pastrnak and Marchand. We can handle the rest of their depth but those two need special attention if we want to keep their scoring down.

 

[sessiroth]

Got to find a way to shutdown Pastrnak and Marchand. We can handle the rest of their depth but those two need special attention if we want to keep their scoring down.

They usually attack the weak D on purpose (hainsey and Gardiner on their respective pairs) so it's up to them to have a strong game.

 

[go_leafs_go02]

We'll know soon. I think he'll back up tonight and play Monday, but I'm just guessing.

 

[Fogelhund]

Doesn't that suck... finally almost ready from injury, gets the flu.

 

[Budsfan]

 

[Arthur Morgan]

I bet Nylander only works on his skating today

 

[SprDaVE]

Andersen has the flu now? Holy crap...

 

[7even]

2 points tonight + the game in hand would be huge for us. Fortunately, through Zach Hyman all things are possible.