"Toronto Maple Leafs 63 pts (29-18-5)
@
New York Rangers 55 pts (25-20-5)
7 p.m. ET
Madison Square Garden – New York, NY
TV: TSN4
Radio: Sportsnet 590 AM
Season Series/Schedule
Date Game GWG
7-Oct NYR 5 @ TOR 8 Tyler Bozak
23-Dec TOR 3 @ NYR 2 Auston Matthews
1-Feb TOR @ NYR
Team Leaders
Maple Leafs Rangers
Auston Matthews, 39 Points Mats Zuccarello, 37
Auston Matthews, 23 Goals Michael Grabner, 21
Gardiner/Nylander/Marner, 27 Assists Mats Zuccarello, 29
The Maple Leafs are right back in action tonight after Wednesday's 5-0 thumping of the New York Islanders. They will go fourth their fourth win in a row and a season series sweep of the Rangers at Madison Square Garden.
With no morning skate today, we will assume that the Maple Leafs will roll the same lines we saw last night. As far as we know, both Ron Hainsey and Roman Polak are still back in Toronto so the defense should remain the same as well.
The only difference we can expect is Curtis McElhinney getting the start in goal since it is the second game in as many nights.
The Maple Leafs have had a very balanced attack versus the Rangers this year as their 11 goals in the first two meetings were scored by 10 different players. Zach Hyman is the only player with two goals against the Blue Shirts.
The biggest different between the Islanders and the Rangers is Herik Lundqvist. They will be hard-pressed to hang another 8-spot on him like they did in early October.
Probable Maple Leafs Lineup
FORWARDS
Zach Hyman - Auston Matthews - William Nylander
Patrick Marleau - Nazem Kadri - Mitch Marner
James van Riemsdyk - Tyler Bozak - Connor Brown
Leo Komarov - Dominic Moore - Kasperi Kapanen
DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS
Jake Gardiner - Nikita Zaitsev
Andreas Borgman - Connor Carrick
Travis Dermott - Justin Holl
GOALTENDER
Curtis McElhinney (4-4-0, 2.55 GAA, .925 save %, 1 SO)
INJURY REPORT
LW-Joffrey Lupul (sports hernia) out, RW-Nikita Soshnikov (lower-body) out, D-Morgan Rielly (upper-body) out, D-Ron Hainsey (illness) out, D-Roman Polak (illness) out
Probable Rangers Lineup
FORWARDS
Rick Nash - Mika Zibanejad - Pavel Buchnevich
J.T. Miller - Kevin Hayes - Mats Zuccarello
Michael Grabner - Peter Holland - Jesper Fast
Cody McLeod - David Desharnais - Jimmy Vesey
DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS
Ryan Mcdonagh - Nick Holden
Brady Skjei - Marc Staal
Brendan Smith - Anthony DeAngelo
GOALTENDER
Henrik Lundqvist (21-13-4, 2.61 GAA, .922 save %)
INJURY REPORT
LW-Chris Kreider (blood clot) out, D-Kevin Shattenkirk (knee) out"
