Preview: Maple Leafs @ Oilers
Two renovated teams face off.
Toronto Maple Leafs @ Edmonton Oilers
08:00 PM at Rogers Place
Watch on: SN
The Leafs last game was an away game on February 26 against the Seattle Kraken, which Toronto won by a score of 5-1. The Leafs have a record of 37-15-8 so far.
The Edmonton Oilers last played at home on February 27 against the Boston Bruins. The Oilers lost by a score of 3-2, and their current league record is 32-21-8.
Two teams who made big deals early meet up for a game tonight in Edmonton. The Oilers got the big defensive prize and the Leafs got several more cost-controlled options.
Them
The Oilers added Mattias Ekholm, who is set to play tonight, and they gave up Tyson Barrie to make it happen. That’s two additions for them, then. They also traded away Jesse Puljujärvi, who wasn’t bringing them offense, but his loss may make them a little more porous defensively. Hardly enough to not be massively outweighed by Ekholm, though.
Lines
Bob Stauffer via Daily Faceoff
These lines are a guess:
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins - Connor McDavid - Kailer Yamamoto
Vincent Desharnais - Leon Draisaitl - Zach Hyman
Warren Foegele - Ryan McLeod - Mattias Janmark
Klim Kostin - Derek Ryan - Devin Shore
Darnell Nurse - Mattias Ekholm
Brett Kulak - Cody Ceci
Philip Broberg - Evan Bouchard
Stuart Skinner - likely starter
Jack Campbell
Us
The Leafs did a whole mess of things post their most recent practice, so it’s hard to know what they’re doing with deployment, but this is my guess after a very sparsely attended optional skate. I’m assuming Luke Schenn and Erik Gustafsson are not yet with the team, but I don’t know that for sure.
Sheldon Keefe says Luke Schenn is scheduled to arrive later today. Erik Gustafsson will meet the team in Calgary. Neither will play tonight. @BodogCA @RinkWideTOR
— David Alter (@dalter) March 1, 2023
Lines
Michael Bunting - Auston Matthews - Mitch Marner
John Tavares - Ryan O’Reilly - William Nylander
Alex Kerfoot - David Kämpf - Calle Järnkrok
Zach Aston-Reese - Noel Acciari - Sam Lafferty
Morgan Rielly - Justin Holl
TJ Brodie - Jake McCabe
Mark Giordano - Timothy Liljegren
Ilya Samsonov - likely starter
Joe Woll
The Game
Both teams are reformed, so the past is truly the past, and this is a whole new Leafs team. I think it’s very good, and facing the Oilers hot offence and their new super D is a perfect test to begin the run to the playoffs with.
NOTE THE TIME!
And Go Leafs Go