Toronto Maple Leafs vs Buffalo Sabres – 04-12-2018 – Game Day Preview

Gameday Preview:  Toronto Maple Leafs vs Buffalo Sabres

Time: Tuesday, December 4^th,  2018

Toronto: 19-8-0 for 38 points

Buffalo:17-8-3 for 37 points

The Toronto Maple Leafs and Buffalo Sabres meet in a tilt between 2 of the top eastern conference teams. Buffalo flying up the standings the last few months, while the Leafs have kept strong despite injuries and contract holdouts of two of their top players..

Top Scorers/Goalie Matchup

Mitch Marner – 38 points (6 goals 32 assists)
John Tavares – 30 points (17 goals 13 assists) 49% on face-offs
Morgan Rielly – 29 points (9 goals 20 assists)
Auston Matthews – 20 points (13 goals 7 assists) 53% on Face-offs)

Jack Eichel – 32 points (5 goals 27 assists)
Jeff Skinner- 28 points (20 goal 8 assists)
Sam Reinhart– 22 points (7 goal 15 assist)
Jason Pominville – 18 points (9 goal 9 assists)

Frederik Andersen
15-7-0 2.30GAA .931SV%

Linus Ullmark
5-0-2 2.57GAA .927SV%

Lineups:

Toronto:

Kasperi Kapanen – Auston Matthews – Patrick Marleau

Mitch Marner – John Tavares– Zach Hyman

Andreas Johnsson – Nazem Kadri – Connor Brown

Tyler Ennis – Pars Lindholm – 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)

Suspension: None

 

Buffalo:

Jeff Skinner – Jack Eichel – Sam Reinhart

Tage Thompson – Casey Middlestadt– Kyle Okposo

Remi Elie – Evan Rodrigues – Vladimir Sobotka

Patrick Berglund – Johan Larsson – Zemgus Girgensons

 

Rasmus Dahlin – Zach Bogosian

Lawrence Pilot – Rasmus Ristolainen

Nathan Beaulieu – Casey Nelson

 

Linus Ullmark

Carter Hutton

 

Scratched: None

Injuries: Jason Pominville, Marco Scandella and Conor Sheary

Suspension: None

Keys to Winning against Buffalo:

1. Stay Out of the Box
   1. Buffalo has a good powerplay, it will burn you.
2. Win faceoffs
   1. Winning faceoffs means more puck possession
3. Kadri
   1. Something has got to give with Nazem Kadri, so far he has been held goal-less this season and he is what drives that 3^rd Need to find a way to get him going.
4. Force the Sabres to take penalties
   1. One of the top powerplays in the league we need to keep it in the game.