"Toronto Maple Leafs 37 pts (18-10-1)
@
Pittsburgh Penguins 35 pts (16-11-3)
7 p.m. ET
PPG Paints Arena – Pittsburgh, PA
TV: CBC (Hockey Night in Canada)
Radio: TSN 1050 AM
Season Series/Schedule
Date Game GWG
12/9 TOR @ PIT
2/17 TOR @ PIT
3/10 PIT @ TOR
Team Leaders
Maple Leafs Penguins
Auston Matthews, 28 Points Phil Kessel, 35
JVR/Kadri/Matthews, 13 Goals Phil Kessel, 14
Rielly/Nylander, 15 Assists Letang/Kessel, 21
The Toronto Maple Leafs will get their first look at the back-to-back Stanley Cup winning Pittsburgh Penguins tonight. The Leafs went 2-1-0 versus the Penguins last season, but have just one victory in their last six visits to Pittsburgh.
Mike Babcock will stick with his usual forward combinations and defensive pairings. Frederik Andersen will make his NHL leading 26th start of the season.
The Penguins will rely on Tristan Jarry between the pipes with Matt Murray on injured reserve due to a lower-body injury. The 22-year-old net minder has done well since being called into duty posting a .921 save percentage in his eight games this season.
While Sidney Crosby got off to a slow start offensively, former Maple Leafs star Phil Kessel has been great since the season began. He leads the Penguins in points, goals and assists and enters tonight's game with a goal in each of last three games.
The Maple Leafs should make an extra effort to stay out of the penalty box tonight. The Penguins have least one power play goal in seven of its last eight games and have at least one power play goal in six straight home games. Their penalty kill has killed off 24 of their last 26 penalties over the last seven games.
Probable Maple Leafs Lineup
FORWARDS
orward Lines
Zach Hyman - Auston Matthews - Connor Brown
Patrick Marleau - Nazem Kadri - Leo Komarov
James van Riemsdyk - Tyler Bozak - Mitch Marner
Matt Martin - Dominic Moore - William Nylander
DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS
Morgan Rielly - Ron Hainsey
Jake Gardiner - Nikita Zaitsev
Andreas Borgman - Roman Polak
GOALTENDER
Frederik Andersen (16-8-1, 2.66 GAA, .922 save %, 3 SO)
INJURY REPORT
LW-Joffrey Lupul (sports hernia) out
Probable Penguins Lineup
FORWARDS
Conor Sheary - Sidney Crosby - Bryan Rust
Jake Guentzel - Evgeni Malkin - Phil Kessel
Carl Hagelin - Riley Sheahan - Patric Hornqvist
Tom Kuhnhackl - Carter Rowney - Ryan Reaves
DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS
Brian Dumoulin - Kris Letang
Olli Maatta - Matt Hunwick
Ian Cole - Chad Ruhwedel
GOALTENDER
Tristan Jarry (5-1-2, 2.39 GAA, .921 save %, 1 SO)
INJURY REPORT
G-Matt Murray (lower-body) out. D-Justin Schultz (lower-body) out
"
