The Pittsburgh Penguins return to Toronto riding a six-game winning streak to face off against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Pittsburgh is coming off a comeback victory over the Boston Bruins on Tuesday night. The Maple Leafs also played on Tuesday night, where they were routed by the Winnipeg Jets, 5-2.
When and where: Air Canada Centre (Toronto, Ontario, Canada); 7:00 pm/est (Root Sports, RDS, SNET-Ontario)
Season records: Penguins (19-8-0; 38 pts.); Maple Leafs (15-11-1; 31 pts.)
Season series: Tied at 1
Last meeting: If it seems that the Penguins just played the Maple Leafs, they did, last Saturday also in Toronto. That night Pittsburgh needed help from the shootout to best the Maple Leafs, 5-4, thanks to two-point performances from Paul Martin, James Neal, and Kris Letang. Marc-Andre Fleury stopped both Tyler Bozak and Nazem Kadri in the shootout, while Sidney Crosby sealed the victory by beating James Reimer.
Keys to the game:
1. Kill, kill, kill: The last time these two teams met, Pittsburgh gave the Maple Leafs three power play opportunities. Not that bad, you say? Well, the Leafs scored on two of those three chances. The Penguins continue to struggle on the penalty kill, while trying to find what they had last season. Luckily for the Penguins, Toronto’s power play only ranks sixteenth in the league. However, that wasn’t a factor in their last game.
2. Curse of the unknown goaltender, part deax: Ben Scrivens is projected to be in net for the Maple Leafs. Like Anton Khudobin of the Boston Bruins on Tuesday, Scrivens has never faced the Penguins. It took the Penguins 2 ¾ periods to figure out Khudobin, but they will have to strike earlier against Toronto if they want to extend their winning streak to seven.
Injuries:
Penguins: C Evgeni Malkin (upper body)
Maple Leafs: LW Joffrey Lupul (broken forearm)
Additional notes:
-Clarke MacArthur has scored a goal in eight straight games against the Penguins.
-Unless they meet in the playoffs, this is the final meeting between the Leafs and Penguins this season.
Projected lines:
Penguins (via penguins.nhl.com)
14 Chris Kunitz (A)-87 Sidney Crosby (C)-9 Pascal Dupuis
19 Beau Bennett-15 Dustin Jeffrey-18 James Neal
24 Matt Cooke-16 Brandon Sutter-48 Tyler Kennedy
10 Tanner Glass-46 Joe Vitale-27 Craig Adams
44 Brooks Orpik (A)-7 Paul Martin
47 Simon Despres-58 Kris Letang
2 Matt Niskanen-5 Deryk Engelland
29 Marc-Andre Fleury (13-5-0; 2.67 GAA; .901 Save %)
Maple Leafs (via dailyfaceoff.com)
21 James van Riemsdyk-42 Tyler Bozak-81 Phil Kessel
39 Matt Frattin-84 Mikhail Grabovski-41 Nikolai Kulemin
16 Clarke MacArthur (A)-43 Nazem Kadri-47 Leo Komarov
38 Frazer McLaren-11 Jay McClement (A)-28 Colton Orr
3 Dion Phaneuf (C)-55 Korbinian Holzer
36 Carl Gunnarsson-24 John-Michael Liles
4 Cody Franson-45 Mark Fraser
30 Ben Scrivens (6-7-0; 2.51 GAA; .919 Save %)
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