Gameday Preview & Recap:  Dallas Stars vs Toronto Maple Leafs

 

Time: Thursday, Novemeber 1st, 2018

Toronto: 8-4-0 for 16 points

Dallas: 6-5-0 for 14 points

The Toronto Maple Leafs play their second game of the season against the Dallas Stars. Game 1 ended in the Leafs walking away victorious 7-4 in Dallas. But the Leafs have had their troubles on home ice this year going 3-4. This also marks the 2nd game without Auston Matthews, expect the Leafs to come out with a little more fire than they did against Calgary. Dallas is coming off a 4 -1 over the Montreal Canadiens and seemingly firing on all cylinders.

Top Scorers/Goalie Matchup
Auston Matthews – 16 points (10 goals 6 assists) 53% on Face-off
Mitch Marner – 126 points (4 goals 12 assists)
Morgan Rielly – 15 points (4 goals 11 assists)
John Tavares – 13 points (7 goals 6 assists) 49% on face-offs

Tyler Seguin –12 points (3 goals 9 assists) 59.6% faceoffs
John Klingberg– 11 points (5 goal 6 assists)
Alex Radulov– 11 points (5 goal 6 assist)
Jamie Benn– 9 points (4 goal 5 assists)

Frederik Andersen
6-4-0 2.53GAA .919SV%

Anton Khudobin
1-1 3.03GAA .898SV%

Probable Lineups:

Toronto:

Kasperi Kapanen – John Tavares – Zach Hyman

Mitch Marner – Nazem Kadri– Patrick Marleau

Tyler Ennis – Pars Lindholm – Connor Brown

Andreas Johnsson – Frederik Gauthier – Josh Leivo
Morgan Rielly – Ron Hainsey

Jake Gardiner – Nikita Zaitsev

Travis Dermott – Igor Ozhiganov
Frederik Andersen

Garrett Sparks
Scratched: Justin Holl & Martin Marincin

Injuries: Nathan Horton (Back), Auston Matthews (Shoulder)

Suspension: None

 

Dallas:

Justin Dowling – Tyler Seguin – Alexander Radulov

Jamie Benn – Jason Spezza– Mattias Janmark

Valeri Nichuskin– Radek Faksa – Gemel Smith

Devin Shore – Jason Dickinson – Blake Comeau
Esa Lindell –John Klingberg

Marc Methot – Miro Heiskanen

Julius Honka – Roman Polak
Anton Khudobin

Ben Bishop
Scratched: Connor Carrick

Injuries: Martin Hanzal, Stephen Johns

Suspension: None

4 Keys to Winning against Dallas:

1. Stay Out of the Box
   1. The Stars own one of the top power-plays in the league and the Leafs penalty kill has not been good.
2. Puck Possession
   1. Puck possession is going to be something that the Leafs need to have during this game, don’t get into an offensive tug of war with Dallas.
3. Nazem Kadri
   1. With the absence of Matthews, Kadri will be called upon to step up his game more offensively. Shouldn’t be an issue considering he is a former 30 goal scorer.
4. Limit Turnovers
   1. No crazy turnovers, way too much talent on this Dallas roster. They will make you pay.

Game Day Lineups:

First Period:

Dallas Penalty – 07:28 – Brett Ritchie 2 minutes from Holding

End of 1st – DAL – 0       TOR – 0

Shots              07                10

Faceoffs         12/16          4/16

Hits               17                  7

PP                 0/0               0/1

Analysis:

Leafs came ready to be aggressive against the Stars. Pressing the Stars defence and forward even in the neutral zone. Not allowing the Stars much offensive zone time but forcing Dallas to take shots from the outside. All players are back checking hard, and clogging up the neutral zone. The 3^rd and 4^th lines are playing like they have something to prove and Travis Dermott is making sure he doesn’t give Babcock any reasons to take him out of the lineup again.

Need to Do:

Continue the pressure and get more bodies in front of the net.

Second Period:

Toronto Penalty – 09:53 – Par Lindholm 2 minutes for Holding

Dallas Goal – 11:55 – Jamie Benn (5) from Tyler Seguin (10) and John Klingberg (7)

Toronto Penalty – 12:41 – Justin Holl 2 minutes for Holding

Dallas Penalty – 16:02 – Marc Methot 2 minutes for Tripping

End of 2nd – DAL – 1        TOR – 0

Shots               15                 16

Faceoffs          21/31            10/31

Hits                 28                  13

PP                   0/2                  0/2

Analysis:

Leafs took the foot off the gas pedal and look to be really struggling to find any offence. Scoring needs to come from somewhere question is who will step up.

Need to Do:

Leafs need to put together a full period. Attack and Attack!

Third Period:

Dallas Penalty – 01:12 – Brett Ritchie 2 minutes for Holding

Dallas Goal – 04:43 – Devin Shore (3) from Mattias Janmark (1) and Tyler Seguin (11)

Dallas Penalty – 05:30 – Jason Dickinson 2 minutes for Tripping

Dallas Penalty – 16:29 – Brett Ritchie 2 minutes for Tripping

Toronto PPG Goal – 16:51 – Patrick Marleau (2) from Morgan Rielly (12) and John Tavares (7)

End of 3rd – DAL – 2         TOR – 1

Shots              18                   31

Faceoffs        34                    18

Hits               34/54             20/54

PP                 0/2                    1/5

Analysis:

This game should have been a win for the Leafs, as they were the much better team for the majority of the game but a few posts and the realization of how much even the players relied on Auston Matthews for goals was at the forefront. Johnsson, Lindholm, Brown, Kapanen looked like they were there to play with speed and aggressiveness, which is a first all season for some of those guys. Take this as a building block for them to get the We Need Matthews to win games mentality out of their brain. Much better showing then against Calgary.

 

Next Up:

Toronto (8-5-0 16pts) @ Pittsburgh (6-2-1 13pts)

Dallas (7-5-0 14pts) @ Washington (5-4-2 12pts)

 

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