Puck Drop: 7:00 p.m. | Arena: Air Canada Centre | TV: CBC | Radio: TSN 1050
Game Day Quotes
Mike Babcock on the Red Wings play under Jeff Blashill this season:
They’re playing well defensively. They’re not scoring, or haven’t scored, but are playing real well defensively and competing hard. I think they’ve done a good job. To me, you’ve got to generate some offence, and they haven’t scored, so that makes it harder for them. In all the games in the pre-scout, they’ve worked real hard.
Babcock on JVR’s play during his eight-goals-in-five games run:
Well, I just think his 5-on-5 is way better. His power play is always elite. In his 5-on-5, he was skating better, he’s jumping, he’s on pucks. Now, is that because he’s scoring and feeling better and going? Or is that because the trade deadline’s over and he doesn’t have to worry about all that crap? I don’t know the answers to those questions, I just know he’s good.
He’s got elite hands, elite brain to get open. He’s calm under pressure. He’s got size and reach, so he can find the loose pucks. I mean, he obviously understands that’s where he scores, so if you score all the goals at the net, why wouldn’t you get to the net? He gets there and people get him the puck there.
Babcock on Roman Polak’s effectiveness:
Well, it was the other night on the bench when he ran over one of their best players and D.J Smith said to me, “What’s the corsi rating for that?”
Babcock on Mitch Marner and Morgan Rielly as pillars of the first PP unit:
Obviously, Mitch has got real good vision and is a real good player. It’s hard to know what he’s going to do next. I think that makes him real key for everyone else because he gives everyone else opportunities. Obviously, Morgan is an elite skater and can pass the puck real well. He’s got the real good shifter from the top and gets it away in a hurry. That gives us lots of options out there.
James van Riemsdyk on whether the relief of the deadline passing has helped him produce down the stretch:
To be honest, it didn’t really affect me at all. I knew it was out of my control. I don’t really buy into that stuff. I think I was just trying to play my game and worry about the stuff I can affect and control. Our line has been doing a lot of good things for a while now, controlling the play and creating chances Now, obviously, we’re definitely capitalizing on it a little more.
JVR on the energizing effect of the young core on the team:
First and foremost, it’s the enthusiasm. They’re going through their first couple of rounds as far as seasons go. You can just kind of feel the excitement. Not that we aren’t excited, but you can’t ever really fake that first or second go through, with how new everything has been. That’s been fun to be around for us. I think we have a good mix of youthfulness and experience on our team.
Auston Matthews’ on the team’s recent success on the power play:
It’s just getting pucks to the net. You’ve got JVR there. He’s been red hot lately and he’s just tipping pucks and making plays and it just keeps going in off of his stick. It’s definitely a good sign. It’s been the main focus for us — just to get the pucks to the net and outnumber down low and create chances for each other. It’s been going well, especially for that other unit lately.
Matchup Stats
| TOR | DET | |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 44-23-7 (95) | 27-36-11 (65) |
| GF/g | 3.30 (3rd) | 2.49 (28th) |
| GA/g | 2.81 (11th) | 3.08 (22nd) |
| PP% | 23.8% (3rd) | 17.3% (23rd) |
| PK% | 82.4% (8th) | 78.0% (23rd) |
| Shots/g | 32.1 (15th) | 30.3 (26th) |
| Shots Against/g | 33.9 (28th) | 31.9 (14th) |
| 5v5 CF% | 49.6% (18th) | 48.9% (20th) |
| 5v5 SV% | .928 (7th) | .920 (21st) |
| 5v5 SH% | 7.2% (23rd) | 8.2% (10th) |
Toronto Maple Leafs Projected Lineup
Forwards
Hyman – Matthews – Nylander
(74-14-23-37) – (54-29-22-51) – (74-16-38-54) Total: 59
Marleau – Kadri – Marner
(74-22-17-40) – (72-28-22-50) – (73-20-41-61) Total: 71
Van Riemsdyk – Bozak – Brown
(73-35-16-49) – (73-11-29-40) – (74-13-13-26) Total: 58
Johnsson – Plekanec – Kapanen
(4-1-0-1) – (70-6-18-24) – (31-6-2-8) Total: 13
Defencemen
Rielly – Hainsey
(68-6-41-47) – (72-4-18-22) Total: 10
Gardiner – Zaitsev
(75-5-39-44) – (52-4-8-12) Total: 9
Dermott – Polak
(31-1-11-12) – (47-2-9-11) Total: 3
Goaltenders
Andersen (.918 sv%)
McElhinney (.935 sv%)
Scratched: Moore, Martin, Leivo
Injured: Komarov
Detroit Red Wings Projected Lineup
Forwards
Bertuzzi – Zetterberg – Nyquist
(40-2-16-18) – (74-10-37-47) – (74-19-15-34) Total: 31
Helm – Larkin – Mantha
(67-9-16-25) – (74-11-42-53) – (72-23-19-42) Total: 43
Athanasiou – Nielsen – Abdelkader
(63-14-17-31) – (71-14-15-29) – (67-12-20-32) Total: 40
Frk – Glendening – Svechnikov
(60-11-12-23) – (62-9-8-17) – (8-1-0-1) Total: 21
Defencemen
Ericsson – Daley
(73-3-9-12) – (69-9-6-15) Total: 12
Dekeyser – Jensen
(57-5-4-9) – (73-0-13-13) Total: 5
Kronwall – Witkowski
(71-3-17-20) – (29-1-1-2) Total: 4
Goaltenders
Howard (.909 sv%)
Coreau (.856 sv%)
Injured: Green
