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Toronto Maple Leafs (21-30-10, 30th in NHL) vs. Washington Capitals (46-12-4, 1st in NHL)

Puck drop: 7 p.m. EST
Arena: Verizon Centre
Watch: Sportsnet, CSN-DC, NHL-TV

– William Nylander, Nikita Soshnikov, Zach Hyman and Kasperi Kapanen are all seeking their first NHL points after making their NHL debuts Monday night vs. Tampa Bay.

– Brooks Laich will play his first game against the Washington Capitals in just his second game as a Leaf. Laich played all but two of his 743 NHL games over 12 seasons with the Capitals.

Laich on playing his old team: “I know there are going to be maybe a few emotions but I can’t let that get to me. I can’t run around, I can’t be hyped up. I’ve got to conserve some energy and just use the hockey sense and play the game.”

“I haven’t digested through all of the emotion; I’ve been through some of it. I have such an empty feeling that I never got the ultimate goal. Before my time in D.C. ended I really wanted to do it with Alex [Ovechkin], I really wanted to do it with [Nicklas Backstrom] and really wanted to do it with Mike Green, who unfortunately wasn’t back this year. Those guys meant a lot to me.”

– Daniel Winnik was, understandably, a little more nonplussed about the prospect of playing against his former club: “I’ve played other teams I’ve been traded on shortly after being traded so I guess it’s kind of nice to just get it out of the way.”

– Jonathan Bernier starts for the Leafs (3-3-0, .892 save percentage versus Washington), Philip Grubauer for Washington (first career start vs. Toronto).


Who’s Hot

  • Nazem Kadri: Six points (1g, 5a) in last five games
  • Morgan Rielly: Three points (1g,2a) in last four games

Who’s Cold

  • Michael Grabner: 0 points in last 24 games
  • Frank Corrado: 0 points in last nine games

Matchup Stats

Screenshot 2016-03-02 17.10.40

Overall StatsTorWas
Points5296
Record %0.4260.774
Home Winning %0.4230.8
Away Winning %0.3330.724
Shootout Winning %0.50.75
Goal Differential Per Game-0.570.95
Shot Differential Per Game0.481.77
Hits Per Game27.624.2
PIM Per Game9.38.7
Opponent PIM Per Game8.58.6
Goals Per Game2.333.26
Even Strength Goals Per Game1.852.47
Power Play Goals Per Game0.460.76
Shots Per Game31.330.7
Shots Per Goal13.49.4
Team Shooting %7.40%10.60%
Power Play %14.40%23.90%
Goals Against Per Game2.92.31
ES Goals Against Per Game2.151.76
PP Goals Against Per Game0.660.5
Shots Against Per Game30.828.97
Shots Against Per Goal10.6212.56
Opp. Team Shooting %9.40%8.00%
Penalty Kill %80.30%84.20%
Save %0.9060.92
Goals Against Average2.852.28
Shutouts32
Opponent Save %0.9260.894
Opponent Goals Against Average2.293.23
Opponent Shutouts72

Season Series

DateResultShots ForShots AgainstPPPK
11/28/2015WAS 4 - TOR 234231 for 21 for 3
11/07/2015TOR 2 - WAS 325311 for 35 for 6

Mike Babcock Game Day


Toronto Maple Leafs Projected Lineups

Leo Komarov – Nazem Kadri – Nikita Soshnikov
Michael Grabner – William Nylander – Zach Hyman
Colin Greening – Ben Smith – Brooks Laich
Kasperi Kapanen – Peter Holland – Brad Boyes

Matt Hunwick – Morgan Rielly
Jake Gardiner – Frank Corrado
Martin Marincin – Connor Carrick

Jonathan Bernier
Garret Sparks

Scratched: Byron Froese, PA Parenteau
Injured: Stephane Robidas (lower body), Joffrey Lupul (middle body), James van Riemsdyk (foot fracture), Jared Cowen (hip tightness), Tyler Bozak (upper body), Milan Michalek (upper body)

Washington Capitals Projected Lineup

Alex Ovechkin – Nicklas Backstrom – T.J. Oshie
Andre Burakovsky – Evgeny Kuznetsov – Justin Williams
Jason Chimera – Marcus Johansson – Tom Wilson
Daniel Winnik – Mike Richards – Jay Beagle

Matt Niskanen – Karl Alzner
Brooks Orpik – Dmitry Orlov
Nate Schmidt – Mike Weber

Philipp Grubauer
Braden Holtby

Injured: John Carlson (lower body)
Scratched: Taylor Chorney, Stanislav Galiev, Michael Latta

 

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