Toronto Maple Leafs vs Boston Bruins – 08/12/2018 – Game Day Preview

 

Gameday Preview:  Toronto Maple Leafs vs Boston Bruins

Time: Saturday, December 8^th,  2018

Toronto: 20-8-1 for 41 points

Boston: 14-10-4 for 32 points

The Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins meet for their 3^rd meeting of the season having won 1 game each. Expect a great game from both sides. Boston has struggled without some of their top players in the lineup recently, but the Leafs will need to take advantage of that.

 

Top Scorers/Goalie Matchup

Mitch Marner – 40 points (6 goals 34 assists)
John Tavares – 32 points (18 goals 14 assists) 49% on face-offs
Morgan Rielly – 31 points (9 goals 22 assists)
Auston Matthews – 24 points (15 goals 9 assists) 53% on Face-offs)

David Pastrnak – 32 points (20 goals 12 assists)
Patrice Bergeron- 26 points (9 goal 17 assists)
Brad Marchand– 22 points (7 goal 17 assist)
David Krecji – 20 points (3 goal 17 assists)

Frederik Andersen
16-7-0 2.320GAA .931SV%

Tuukka Rask
6-6-2 2.63GAA .914SV%

 

Lineups:

Toronto:

William Nylander – Auston Matthews – Patrick Marleau

Mitch Marner – John Tavares– Zach Hyman

Andreas Johnsson – Nazem Kadri – Kasperi Kapanen

Tyler Ennis – Pars Lindholm – Connor Brown

 

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

 

Boston:

Brad Marchand – David Krejci – David Pastrnak

Danton Heinein – Colby Caves– David Backes

Gemel Smith – Sean Kuraly – Chris Wagner

Ryan Donato – Jakob Forback-Karlsson – Joakim Nordstrom

 

Torey Krug – Brandon Carlo

John Moore – Charlie MacVoy

Matt Grzelcyk – Steve Kampfer

 

Tuukka Rask

Jaroslav Halak

 

Scratched: None

Injuries: Kevan Miller, Urho Vaakanainen, Patrice Bergeron,  Zdeno Chara, Jake Debrusk

Suspension: None

 

Keys to Winning against Boston:

1. Attack the defence
   1. Bruins defence is depleted, attack some of their guys get some turnovers
2. Win faceoffs
   1. No Bergeron, Means winning more faceoffs which means more puck possession
3. Kadri, Kapanen, Johnsson
   1. Dominated all game long in Detroit. Needs to keep that going.