Maple Leafs Host The NHL's Top Team

"Toronto Maple Leafs 71 pts (33-19-5)
vs
Tampa Bay Lightning 79 pts (38-14-3)
7 p.m. ET
Air Canada Centre � Toronto, ON
TV: TSN 4
Radio: TSN 1050 AM


Season Series/Schedule
Date Game GWG
1/2 TBL 2 @ TOR 0 Cedric Paquette
2/12 TBL @ TOR
2/26 TOR @ TBL
3/20 TOR @ TBL


Team Leaders
Maple Leafs Lightning
Auston Matthews, 44 Points Nikita Kucherov, 69
Auston Matthews, 26 Goals Nikita Kucherov, 29
Gardiner/Nylander/Marner, 30 Assists Steven Stamkos, 43


The Toronto Maple Leafs are stepping up in class tonight after Saturday night's win over the Ottawa Senators. The Leafs will see the Lightning three times during the final 25 games of the season with two trips to Tampa Bay after tonight's meeting at the ACC.
Both teams come into tonight's game playing great hockey. Each team as won four out of their last five games with Tampa going 7-3-0 in their last 10 games and the Leafs going 8-2-0 in the same span.
Mike Babcock will use the same forward combinations we saw versus Ottawa. The only change comes on the third defensive pairing as Roman Polak draws back while Connor Carrick comes out.
Nikita Soshnikov was recalled from his conditioning stint with the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League. However, he remains on injured reserve as he has not been cleared by the Leafs medical staff.


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
Morgan Rielly - Ron Hainsey
Jake Gardiner - Nikita Zaitsev
Travis Dermott - Roman Polak
GOALTENDER
Frederik Andersen (27-15-4, 2.65 GAA, .921 save %, 4 SO)
INJURY REPORT
LW-Joffrey Lupul (sports hernia) out, RW-Nikita Soshnikov (lower-body) out


Probable Lightning Lineup
FORWARDS
Yanni Gourde - Steven Stamkos - Tyler Johnson
Alex Killorn - Brayden Point - Nikita Kucherov
Cory Conacher - Vladislav Namestnikov - Adam Erne
Chris Kunitz - Cedric Paquette - Ryan Callahan
DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS
Victor Hedman — Anton Stralman
Mikhail Sergachev — Dan Girardi
Braydon Coburn — Andrej Sustr
GOALTENDER
Andrei Vasilevskiy (33-10-2, 2.29 GAA, .929 save %, 7 SO)
INJURY REPORT
G-Peter Budaj (lower-body) out, LW-Ondrej Palat (lower-body) out"