Just the facts
When: Tonight, 7 PM
Where: Scotiabank Arena - Toronto, ON
How to follow: NESN, 98.5 The Sports Hub
Know your enemy
- 35-17-8, 78PTS, 3rd in the Atlantic Division
- William Nylander: 33G-50A-83PTS; Auston Matthews: 53G-26A-79PTS; Mitch Marner: 24G-50A-74PTS
- Ilya Samsonov: 15-5-6, 3.23 GAA, .883 save percentage
Game notes
- The Bruins are in a rough patch, which makes now the perfect time for...two games in a week against Toronto? Maybe not, seeing as the Leafs are on a heater: they’re 9-1-0 in their last ten games.
- In their most recent game on Saturday night, the Leafs beat the New York Rangers in a shootout, 4-3. That game was notable for an injury to recently acquired defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin and for Ryan Reaves, the league leader in Tough Talk/60, fighting Matt Rempe.
- This is the third meeting between these two teams this season, and the first of two this week. The B’s won the previous two, both in extra time (shocking): 3-2 in a shootout at the Garden back in November, and 4-3 in overtime in Toronto back in December.
- I knew Auston Matthews was having a terrific season, so I was surprised to see that he actually doesn’t lead the Leafs in points. William Nylander sure picked a great time to have a career $ea$on, eh?
- Unsurprisingly, the Leafs boast the league’s most potent offense (3.65 GF/G) and the league’s second-best power play (28.4%).
- While he’s still off the pace the Leafs likely expected, former Bruin Tyler Bertuzzi has picked up the pace a bit. He currently has 12 goals and 16 assists, with five of those goals coming in his last five games.
- We’re all well aware of the Bruins’ situation: call it fatigue, call it a slump, call it regression to the mean...whatever it is, it boils down to 3-5-2 in their last ten and a rapidly shrinking gap between themselves and the Leafs.
- Sunday didn’t provide any sort of concrete update on the status of Pavel Zacha, who left Saturday night’s debacle with an injury.
- The Bruins are going to make the playoffs, and anything can happen there — but this next stretch of games could prove pivotal in terms of the mood around the team. Right now, the vibes aren’t great. A testing stretch of Toronto-Edmonton-Toronto could either further sink the vibes or turn the frowns upside down. TIME WILL TELL.
See ya tonight!