"Toronto Maple Leafs 41 pts (20-11-1)
@
Minnesota Wild 35 pts (16-11-3)
8 p.m. ET
Xcel Energy Center – St. Paul, MN
TV: Sportsnet Ontario
Radio: TSN 1050 AM
Season Series/Schedule
Date Game GWG
11/8 MIN 2 @ TOR 4 Connor Carrick
12/14 TOR @ MIN
Team Leaders
Maple Leafs Wild
Auston Matthews, 26 Points Eric Staal, 26
James van Riemsdyk, 15 Goals Jason Zucker, 14
Mitch Marner, 15 Assists Eric Staal, 14
The Toronto Maple Leafs are in Minnesota tonight to try to sweep the season series versus the Wild. The Leafs got goals from Connor Brown, Connor Carrick, Patrick Marleau and Nazem Kadri during a 4-2 win back on November 8. Frederik Andersen, who starts in goal tonight, made 35 saves in the victory.
Auston Matthews missed the first meeting between these two teams and he will miss the rematch as well. This will be the third straight game in which Matthews will sit out due to an upper-body injury.
The Wild are dealing with a significant injury themselves as All-Star goaltender Devan Dubyk was placed on injured reserve this morning and is considered week-to-week with a lower-body injury. Dubnyk has been in net for 12 of Minnesota's 16 wins this season. Alex Stalock will start in his place tonight, his first career start versus the Maple Leafs.
The Maple Leafs only have two wins in their eight all-time games in St. Paul. They have not won at the Xcel Energy Center since March of 2011. Last month's win over the Wild ended a four-game losing streak against them.
The Wild have won four straight home games and have earned at least one point in each of their last seven contests on home ice. They have also earned at least one point in 12 of their last 16 games, tying them for first in the NHL in wins and second in points since November 9.
Probable Maple Leafs Lineup
FORWARDS
Leo Komarov - Nazem Kadri – William Nylander
James van Riemsdyk - Tyler Bozak - Connor Brown
Zach Hyman - Patrick Marleau - Mitch Marner
Matt Martin - Dominic Moore - Josh Leivo
DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS
Morgan Rielly - Ron Hainsey
Jake Gardiner - Nikita Zaitsev
Andreas Borgman - Roman Polak
GOALTENDER
Frederik Andersen (17-9-1, 2.69 GAA, .922 save %, 3 SO)
INJURY REPORT
LW-Joffrey Lupul (sports hernia) out, C-Auston Matthews (upper-body) day-to-day, RW-Nikita Soshnikov (lower-body) out
Probable Wild Lineup
FORWARDS
Nino Niederreiter - Eric Staal - Mikael Granlund
Jason Zucker - Mikko Koivu - Charlie Coyle
Joel Eriksson Ek - Matt Cullen - Zack Mitchell
Marcus Foligno - Daniel Winnik - Chris Stewart
DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS
Ryan Suter - Matt Dumba
Jonas Brodin - Ryan Murphy
Gustav Olofsson - Nate Prosser
GOALTENDER
Alex Stalock (4-3-1, 2.93 GAA, .907 save %, 0 SO)
INJURY REPORT
LW-Zach Parse (back) out, D-Jared Spurgeon (groin) day-to-day, G-Devan Dubnyk (lower-body) day-to-day
"
