Puck Drop: 7:30 p.m. | Arena: Amalie Arena | TV: TSN4 | Radio: TSN 1050
Game Day Quotes
Lightning head coach Jon Cooper on the matchup against the Leafs:
These are always fun games. They’ve got a really good team. Their power play is really good — really hot. They went six for six, and if Kadri didn’t take a penalty on the power play, they might have gone seven for seven. They’re good on special teams and they kill penalties really well. They’re a top-ten team in both of those. They’re a top-ten team in goals for. They do a lot of things really well. It’ll be a tough matchup for us tonight.
Cooper on what his team has left to play for:
It’s one thing clinching a playoff berth. That is the big hurdle to compete for a Stanley Cup. But ultimately you want to be playing your best hockey come three weeks from now. There is still a lot to play for. Home ice is a big thing. I go back to the year we went to the Cup a few years ago. If we don’t have that Game 7 at home, who knows? I thought that was a big reason why we got through that series. You don’t necessarily need home ice, but it’s a good luxury when you have it.
Mike Babcock on playing elite teams like Tampa Bay:
I just think when you play good teams, it doesn’t matter who they are, they stretch you and make you better, test your preparation, your commitment during the game. Tonight’s game has a chance to be a real good hockey game, so we’ve go to hold up our end of that. It’s gonna be tight. They’re deep. They’ve added lots of guys. They’ve got Palat back. It’s gonna a nice hockey game and a good opportunity for our team.
Babcock on William Nylander’s matchup at centre:
You ask me this everyday so it must be a big deal. I don’t really know. To me, it’s just each and every night –when you’re playing against good players and you’re perceived as a good player — someone’s got to outdo the other guy. So, Freddy looks down at their goalie, Willy looks down a the guy he’s playing. You’ve got to outplay him and you’ve got beat him one-on-one. Now, you’ve got a whole group playing their way, but in the end, it’s between you and the guy across from you.
Babcock on Tampa’s improved lineup since their last meeting:
That’s what all teams want. You want to get all hands on deck in the end so you can be really deep. But in the meantime, when guys are out — Komarov’s out, Matty’s out — there’s opportunities for other guys. And in the meantime, you have a chance to find players. We wouldn’t know how good [Andreas Johnsson] was unless we had an opportunity to get him in. You could say the same about Dermott and the same about Kapanen.
Babcock on winning games different ways as of late:
We’ve been talking about our plan all year, and as the year goes on, you evolve and you come up with almost a blueprint of how you have to play to be successful. Now, are there nuances you change every night? Absolutely. But in the end, you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do to have success.
There’s no question we know how we want to play, but now we’ve just got to play that way. You know, there’s two parts: your part and the other team’s part. Sometimes the other team doesn’t want to cooperate and let you do it.
Cooper on getting Ondrej Palat back in the lineup:
Let me just start whizzing out cliches. He’s a 200 foot player. He gives everything he has and plays all special teams. When you take those guys out of the lineup… He may not be the big point producer other guys are, but he sure makes guys look good. Often times you’ll see him out on the ice in the last minute of the game regardless of the situation. When you don’t have those guys, you miss them. We got by without him. One man doesn’t make a team. This is a team sport. But you like to have your full arsenal, and he’s part of that.
Matchup Stats
| TOR | TB | |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 43-22-7 | 49-19-4 |
| GF/g | 3.28 (5th) | 3.53 (1st) |
| GA/g | 2.81 (12th) | 2.78 (11th) |
| PP% | 22.4% (5th) | 24.0% (2nd) |
| PK% | 82.3% (9th) | 76.8% (26th) |
| Shots/g | 32.2 (15th) | 32.7 (13th) |
| Shots Against/g | 34.1 (28th) | 32.7 (23rd) |
| 5v5 CF% | 48.6% (18th) | 51.8% (6th) |
| 5v5 SV% | .929 (6th) | .930 (5th) |
| 5v5 SH% | 9.0% (4th) | 9.4% (1st) |
Toronto Maple Leafs Projected Lineup
Forwards
Marleau – Kadri – Marner
(72-23-17-40) – (70-28-21-49) – (72-19-41-60) Total: 70
Hyman – Nylander – Johnsson
(72-13-22-35) – (72-15-37-52) – (2-1-0-1) Total: 29
Van Riemsdyk – Bozak – Brown
(71-31-16-47) – (71-11-26-37) – (72-12-12-24) Total: 54
Leivo – Plekanec – Kapanen
(15-1-3-4) – (68-6-18-24) – (26-6-2-8) Total: 13
Defencemen
Rielly – Hainsey
(66-6-38-44) – (70-4-18-22) Total: 10
Gardiner – Polak
(72-4-39-43) – (45-2-9-11) Total: 6
Dermott – Carrick
(29-1-10-11) – (43-4-7-11) Total: 5
Goaltenders
Andersen (.919 sv%)
McElhinney (.935 sv%)
Scratched: Moore, Martin
Injured: Matthews, Zaitsev, Komarov
Tampa Bay Lightning Projected Lineup
Forwards
Miller – Stamkos – Kucherov
(72-18-32-50) – (72-27-57) – (70-36-57-93) Total: 81
Palat – Point – Johnson
(46-8-22-30) – (72-27-31-58) – (71-20-28-48) Total: 55
Killorn – Gourde – Erne
(72-13-28-41) – (72-24-30-54) – (19-3-0-3) Total: 40
Kunitz – Cirelli – Callahan
(72-12-12-24) – (8-2-3-5) – (62-4-11-15) Total: 18
Defencemen
Hedman – Stralman
(67-12-40-52) – (70-4-13-17) Total: 16
McDonagh – Girardi
(53-3-24-27) – (67-4-10-14) Total: 7
Coburn – Sergachev
(62-1-10-11) – (70-8-26-34) Total: 9
Goaltenders
Vasilevskiy (.922 sv%)
Domingue (.913 sv%)
Injured: Condra
