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Saturday NHL game preview: Toronto Maple Leafs at Edmonton Oilers
By Mark ZwolinskiSports Reporter
Fri., March 8, 2019
ROGERS PLACE
FACEOFF: 7 p.m.
Saturday NHL game preview: Toronto Maple Leafs at Edmonton Oilers | The Star
/https://www.thestar.com/content/dam/thestar/sports/leafs/2019/03/08/saturday-nhl-game-preview-toronto-maple-leafs-at-edmonton-oilers/oilers.jpg)
Connor McDavid, left, and Leon Draisaitl are trying to lead Edmonton on a late push for a playoff spot. (Sean M. Haffey / GETTY IMAGES)
TV: Sportsnet, CBC
RADIO: TSN 1050
KEY PLAYERS
Draisaitl/Tavares
Two top-goal scorers having special seasons. Leon Draisaitl leads the Oilers with 41 goals. He has a chance to become just the sixth player to score 50 in the last decade — joining Alex Ovechkin, Steven Stamkos, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Corey Perry — and the first Oiler to reach that plateau since Wayne Gretzky and Jari Kurri in 1986-87. John Tavares has 37 goals for the Leafs, one shy of his career high set in 2014-15 with the Islanders.
NEED TO KNOW
The Oilers are on a four-game winning streak, and have gone 6-1-1 in their last eight, with plenty of help from Draisaitl (12-game point streak) and captain Connor McDavid (seven-game streak). The one regulation loss? A 6-2 loss in Toronto ... There’s plenty of talk in Edmonton about the lack of help on the wings for centres Draisaitl, McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. The Oilers have gone with Zach Kassian on McDavid’s line of late, with some good results. They are also pondering using Sam Gagner on Draisaitl’s line, and dropping Milan Lucic to the fourth line ... Edmonton is still holding out hope for a playoff spot but the Oilers entered Friday seven points out of a wild-card berth, needing help from other teams.
UP NEXT
Monday vs. Tampa Bay, 7 p.m.
Edmonton Oilers Game Day: Beware of exploding Leafs
Jim Matheson, Edmonton Journal
Edmonton Oilers Game Day: Beware of exploding Leafs
TORONTO, ON - FEBRUARY 27: Auston Matthews #34 of the Toronto Maple Leafs tips a puck in front of Oscar Klefbom #77 of the Edmonton Oilers during an NHL game at Scotiabank Arena on February 27, 2019 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.Claus Andersen / Getty Images
Toronto Maple Leafs at Edmonton Oilers
5 p.m. TV: Hockey Night in Canada, Radio: 630 CHED
FIVE THINGS TO WATCH:
1. Teams that can wheel and deal
When the Oilers play teams that can skate and score, they have enormous trouble. San Jose has put up two seven-goal games against them. Tampa had five and six goals in two wins. The Leafs had six when they met 10 days ago. The Oilers routinely can play against their calibre of opposition and keep the score down — Vancouver, Ottawa, Buffalo, Dallas — but teams like the Leafs can explode in a hurry and they had four goals in the first eight minutes of the second period in Toronto the last time out.
2, Overworked Leafs defence
With Jake Gardiner and Travis Dermott out for a long while, Mike Babcock is working his top four to the bone — Morgan Rielly, Jake Muzzin, Ron Hainsey and Nikita Zaitsev — with minimal time for his bottom pairing of ex-Oilers defenceman Martin Marincin on the penalty kill, and either Justin Holl or Igor Ozhiganov. Hainsey is 37 and playing 20 minutes a night. With a two-pronged attack of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, this figures to be a bigger problem than going against Bo Horvat and Elias Petterson in Vancouver earlier this week.
3. Kassian’s hot hand
Oilers winger Zack Kassian has scored in four straight games and has 10 goals in the last 22, going back two months. So much for the banger, dump-it-in guy. Only McDavid and Draisaitl have done better this season with five-game streaks, and they did it once. Kassian’s career high is 14 goals in 2013-14 and he has 12 now, all but one of them coming on even-strength. He has one short-hander in there. He never sees power-play time. Every dog has its day, but the days for Kassian have lasted quite a while.
4. Marner or Matthews?
With Auston Matthews’ $11.6 million-a-year deal kicking in next year, how much will Mitch Marner be looking for? Everybody talks about Matthews being the Leafs’ big gun, but it’s been Marner this year. The right-winger, as clever as Patrick Kane, has 82 points (20 even-strength goals) in 67 games, and he’s plus-25. Matthews, meanwhile, is minus-1 and he has 60 points in 53 games. Can’t imagine Marner, who has 212 points in 226 Leafs games, will be asking for a dime less than Matthews in a new deal this summer. Nor should he.
5. Koskinen outplaying Andersen
This is a yardstick game for Mikko Koskinen, who got the hook after four goals in Toronto, three of which he had no chance on. Freddie Anderson was better, especially early when the Oilers outplayed Toronto in the first 20 minutes. Koskinen, who has started every game since Talbot was traded, has only lost two regulation games, with a .926 save percentage in that time. He faced 37 shots against Vancouver but the Canucks don’t have the shooters Toronto does. If the Leafs get that many, he’ll have his hands full.
BIG MATCHUP:
John Tavares and/or Nazem Kadri vs. Connor McDavid
The Leafs may tag-team the Oilers captain. Last time in Toronto, Tavares was all over McDavid, limiting him to one assist but Kadri, back from a concussion, usually draws the McDavid assignment. He’s more the Ryan Kesler, pain-in-the-butt checker and he’s done a nice job in the past doing his best to rub McDavid the wrong way. Expect McDavid, who has nine points in six career games against the Leafs, to be all over the place on different lines because the Oilers have last change a home.
SPECIAL TEAMS
Edmonton: Power play – 41-193 21.2 percent (12th); penalty kill – 50-206 75.7 percent (29th)
Toronto: Power play – 174, 22.4 percent (eighth); penalty kill – 35-173 79.8 percent (19th)
GAME DAY LINES
Oilers
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins • Connor McDavid • Zack Kassian
Sam Gagner • Leon Draisaitl • Alex Chiasson
Jujhar Khaira • Kyle Brodziak • Josh Currie
Milan Lucic • Colby Cave • Tobias Rieder
Oscar Klefbom • Adam Larsson
Darnell Nurse • Kris Russell
Andrej Sekera • Matt Benning
Mikko Koskinen
Anthony Stolarz
Leafs
Zach Hyman • John Tavares • Mitch Marner
Andreas Johnsson • Austin Matthews • Kasperi Kapanen
Patrick Marleau • Nazem Kadri • William Nylander
Tyler Ennis • Frederik Gauthier • Connor Brown
Morgan Rielly • Ron Hainsey
Jake Muzzin • Nikita Zaitsev
Martin Marincin • Igor Ozhiganov
Frederik Andersen
Garret Sparks
INJURIES
Oilers: Jesse Puljujarvi
Maple Leafs: Jake Gardiner, Travis Dermott
The Leafs could get Nazem Kadri back for their game against Edmonton on Saturday. DAVE ABEL/TORONTO SUN
Three thoughts on Maple Leafs as they get set for Oilers
Once Nazem Kadri returns to the lineup after recovering from a concussion suffered on Feb. 19, who will sit?
Kadri could be back in Edmonton, and we should have a clearer idea about that possibility once the Leafs do line rushes during practice on Friday at Rogers Arena.
If Babcock decides to go back to Frederik Gauthier as the centre on the fourth line, and judging by the hints Babcock was dropping after the loss in Vancouver, that will happen, then Nic Petan likely would be the odd man out.
A Kadri return, we presume, would put William Nylander back on Kadri’s right side, a move that would drop Connor Brown to the fourth line. Though we imagine also that Nylander could be reunited with Auston Matthews on the centre’s right wing, with Kasperi Kapanen sliding down to play with Kadri and Patrick Marleau.
Babcock would be loathe to consider having a healthy Brown watch from the press box, perhaps even more after general manager Kyle Dubas hung on to Brown at the deadline.
There’s the feeling the Leafs want to continue to give Trevor Moore a long look, and the speedy, tenacious winger hasn’t done much to warrant being taken out.
“I think Moore has really given us an addition, he is hard on the puck, he forechecks, he tracks, he has real good details,” Babcock said.
If Kadri can go, perhaps it’s Tyler Ennis who sits, never mind that the Edmonton native must have had the road game against the Oilers circled on his calendar all season.
Babcock’s only desire is to win, and it could be that he thinks there’s a better chance of that with Moore in the lineup than Ennis.
Saturday NHL game preview: Toronto Maple Leafs at Edmonton Oilers
By Mark ZwolinskiSports Reporter
Fri., March 8, 2019
ROGERS PLACE
FACEOFF: 7 p.m.
Saturday NHL game preview: Toronto Maple Leafs at Edmonton Oilers | The Star
Connor McDavid, left, and Leon Draisaitl are trying to lead Edmonton on a late push for a playoff spot. (Sean M. Haffey / GETTY IMAGES)
TV: Sportsnet, CBC
RADIO: TSN 1050
KEY PLAYERS
Draisaitl/Tavares
Two top-goal scorers having special seasons. Leon Draisaitl leads the Oilers with 41 goals. He has a chance to become just the sixth player to score 50 in the last decade — joining Alex Ovechkin, Steven Stamkos, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Corey Perry — and the first Oiler to reach that plateau since Wayne Gretzky and Jari Kurri in 1986-87. John Tavares has 37 goals for the Leafs, one shy of his career high set in 2014-15 with the Islanders.
NEED TO KNOW
The Oilers are on a four-game winning streak, and have gone 6-1-1 in their last eight, with plenty of help from Draisaitl (12-game point streak) and captain Connor McDavid (seven-game streak). The one regulation loss? A 6-2 loss in Toronto ... There’s plenty of talk in Edmonton about the lack of help on the wings for centres Draisaitl, McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. The Oilers have gone with Zach Kassian on McDavid’s line of late, with some good results. They are also pondering using Sam Gagner on Draisaitl’s line, and dropping Milan Lucic to the fourth line ... Edmonton is still holding out hope for a playoff spot but the Oilers entered Friday seven points out of a wild-card berth, needing help from other teams.
UP NEXT
Monday vs. Tampa Bay, 7 p.m.
Edmonton Oilers Game Day: Beware of exploding Leafs
Jim Matheson, Edmonton Journal
Edmonton Oilers Game Day: Beware of exploding Leafs
TORONTO, ON - FEBRUARY 27: Auston Matthews #34 of the Toronto Maple Leafs tips a puck in front of Oscar Klefbom #77 of the Edmonton Oilers during an NHL game at Scotiabank Arena on February 27, 2019 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.Claus Andersen / Getty Images
Toronto Maple Leafs at Edmonton Oilers
5 p.m. TV: Hockey Night in Canada, Radio: 630 CHED
FIVE THINGS TO WATCH:
1. Teams that can wheel and deal
When the Oilers play teams that can skate and score, they have enormous trouble. San Jose has put up two seven-goal games against them. Tampa had five and six goals in two wins. The Leafs had six when they met 10 days ago. The Oilers routinely can play against their calibre of opposition and keep the score down — Vancouver, Ottawa, Buffalo, Dallas — but teams like the Leafs can explode in a hurry and they had four goals in the first eight minutes of the second period in Toronto the last time out.
2, Overworked Leafs defence
With Jake Gardiner and Travis Dermott out for a long while, Mike Babcock is working his top four to the bone — Morgan Rielly, Jake Muzzin, Ron Hainsey and Nikita Zaitsev — with minimal time for his bottom pairing of ex-Oilers defenceman Martin Marincin on the penalty kill, and either Justin Holl or Igor Ozhiganov. Hainsey is 37 and playing 20 minutes a night. With a two-pronged attack of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, this figures to be a bigger problem than going against Bo Horvat and Elias Petterson in Vancouver earlier this week.
3. Kassian’s hot hand
Oilers winger Zack Kassian has scored in four straight games and has 10 goals in the last 22, going back two months. So much for the banger, dump-it-in guy. Only McDavid and Draisaitl have done better this season with five-game streaks, and they did it once. Kassian’s career high is 14 goals in 2013-14 and he has 12 now, all but one of them coming on even-strength. He has one short-hander in there. He never sees power-play time. Every dog has its day, but the days for Kassian have lasted quite a while.
4. Marner or Matthews?
With Auston Matthews’ $11.6 million-a-year deal kicking in next year, how much will Mitch Marner be looking for? Everybody talks about Matthews being the Leafs’ big gun, but it’s been Marner this year. The right-winger, as clever as Patrick Kane, has 82 points (20 even-strength goals) in 67 games, and he’s plus-25. Matthews, meanwhile, is minus-1 and he has 60 points in 53 games. Can’t imagine Marner, who has 212 points in 226 Leafs games, will be asking for a dime less than Matthews in a new deal this summer. Nor should he.
5. Koskinen outplaying Andersen
This is a yardstick game for Mikko Koskinen, who got the hook after four goals in Toronto, three of which he had no chance on. Freddie Anderson was better, especially early when the Oilers outplayed Toronto in the first 20 minutes. Koskinen, who has started every game since Talbot was traded, has only lost two regulation games, with a .926 save percentage in that time. He faced 37 shots against Vancouver but the Canucks don’t have the shooters Toronto does. If the Leafs get that many, he’ll have his hands full.
BIG MATCHUP:
John Tavares and/or Nazem Kadri vs. Connor McDavid
The Leafs may tag-team the Oilers captain. Last time in Toronto, Tavares was all over McDavid, limiting him to one assist but Kadri, back from a concussion, usually draws the McDavid assignment. He’s more the Ryan Kesler, pain-in-the-butt checker and he’s done a nice job in the past doing his best to rub McDavid the wrong way. Expect McDavid, who has nine points in six career games against the Leafs, to be all over the place on different lines because the Oilers have last change a home.
SPECIAL TEAMS
Edmonton: Power play – 41-193 21.2 percent (12th); penalty kill – 50-206 75.7 percent (29th)
Toronto: Power play – 174, 22.4 percent (eighth); penalty kill – 35-173 79.8 percent (19th)
GAME DAY LINES
Oilers
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins • Connor McDavid • Zack Kassian
Sam Gagner • Leon Draisaitl • Alex Chiasson
Jujhar Khaira • Kyle Brodziak • Josh Currie
Milan Lucic • Colby Cave • Tobias Rieder
Oscar Klefbom • Adam Larsson
Darnell Nurse • Kris Russell
Andrej Sekera • Matt Benning
Mikko Koskinen
Anthony Stolarz
Leafs
Zach Hyman • John Tavares • Mitch Marner
Andreas Johnsson • Austin Matthews • Kasperi Kapanen
Patrick Marleau • Nazem Kadri • William Nylander
Tyler Ennis • Frederik Gauthier • Connor Brown
Morgan Rielly • Ron Hainsey
Jake Muzzin • Nikita Zaitsev
Martin Marincin • Igor Ozhiganov
Frederik Andersen
Garret Sparks
INJURIES
Oilers: Jesse Puljujarvi
Maple Leafs: Jake Gardiner, Travis Dermott
The Leafs could get Nazem Kadri back for their game against Edmonton on Saturday. DAVE ABEL/TORONTO SUN
Three thoughts on Maple Leafs as they get set for Oilers
Once Nazem Kadri returns to the lineup after recovering from a concussion suffered on Feb. 19, who will sit?
Kadri could be back in Edmonton, and we should have a clearer idea about that possibility once the Leafs do line rushes during practice on Friday at Rogers Arena.
If Babcock decides to go back to Frederik Gauthier as the centre on the fourth line, and judging by the hints Babcock was dropping after the loss in Vancouver, that will happen, then Nic Petan likely would be the odd man out.
A Kadri return, we presume, would put William Nylander back on Kadri’s right side, a move that would drop Connor Brown to the fourth line. Though we imagine also that Nylander could be reunited with Auston Matthews on the centre’s right wing, with Kasperi Kapanen sliding down to play with Kadri and Patrick Marleau.
Babcock would be loathe to consider having a healthy Brown watch from the press box, perhaps even more after general manager Kyle Dubas hung on to Brown at the deadline.
There’s the feeling the Leafs want to continue to give Trevor Moore a long look, and the speedy, tenacious winger hasn’t done much to warrant being taken out.
“I think Moore has really given us an addition, he is hard on the puck, he forechecks, he tracks, he has real good details,” Babcock said.
If Kadri can go, perhaps it’s Tyler Ennis who sits, never mind that the Edmonton native must have had the road game against the Oilers circled on his calendar all season.
Babcock’s only desire is to win, and it could be that he thinks there’s a better chance of that with Moore in the lineup than Ennis.
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