It’s been a bumpy ride for the Leafs as of late. After a 3-0 win over the New York Islanders on January 4th, they have given up 21 goals in 4 games while sporting a record of 1-2-1. They are coming off a 7-4 win against the New Jersey Devils, but a porous 3rd period left fans with a sour taste in their mouths.
Tonight they hope to turn things around against the Calgary Flames, who are coming off of a shutout loss at the hands of the Montreal Canadians.
Expect them to be hungry.
Any turnaround has to start with Frederik Andersen. His play hasn’t been up to par as of late. With a SV% of 0.900 or less in 9 of his last 12 games, and at least 3 goals scored against in 10 of his last 12 games, he needs to get back into a groove. That, combined with the injuries and poor play of the Leafs defenders, has meant that the team has had to score 4 or more goals for 5 of their past 6 wins.
This isn’t a recipe for long term success. While the players that love to wheel (Tyson Barrie, William Nylander etc) more than they love to defend have enjoyed this style of play, if they want to go deep into the playoffs they’ll need to buy into a more defensive game.
This sounds like a tune we’ve sung before.
There are no expected lineup changes tonight, lets hope Rasmus Sandin gets more minutes than he did last game, he looked terrific:
#Leafs lines at practice:
Hyman-Matthews-Marner
Engvall-Tavares-Nylander
Johnsson-Kerfoot-Kapanen
Moore-Gauthier-SpezzaDermott-Holl
Marincin-Barrie
Sandin-CeciAndersen
Hutchinson— Kristen Shilton (@kristen_shilton) January 15, 2020
Andersen starts again while David Rittich is expected to start for the Calgary Flames.
Calgary Flames
Record: 25-18-5
PP%: 19.1% (21st in NHL)
PK%: 83.2% (4th in NHL)
GF/GP: 2.65 (T-24th in NHL)
GA/GP: 2.94 (11th in NHL)
S/GP: 31.1 (T-16th in NHL)
SA/GP: 32.5 (T-24th in NHL)
Toronto:
Record: 25-16-6
PP%: 24% (5th in NHL)
PK%: 75.7% (T-25th in NHL)
GF/GP: 3.66 (1st in NHL)
GA/GP: 3.28 (24th in NHL)
S/GP: 33.6 (7th in NHL)
SA/GP: 32.6 (T-26th in NHL)
