Oilers @ Leafs - Jan. 22nd, 7:00pm - TSN4, TSN 1050

[CarltonTheBear]

@

2-3-0, 4 points | 3-2-0, 6 points

Projected Lines

RNH-McDavid-Kassian Kahun-Draisaitl-Yamamoto Nygard-Turris-Puljujarvi Archibald-Shore-Chiasson Nurse-Bear Russell-Barrie Koekkoek-Larsson Koskinen ​

Vesey-Matthews-Marner Nylander-Tavares-Hyman Mikheyev-Kerfoot-Simmonds Engvall-Spezza Rielly-Brodie Muzzin-Holl Dermott-Bogosian Lehtonen Andersen​

Scratches

Tyler Ennis William Lagesson Caleb Jones ​

Alexander Barabanov​

Taxi Squad

Jujhar Khaira Patrick Russell Alan Quine Evan Bouchard Dylan Wells Oliver Rodrigue ​

Travis Boyd Joey Anderson Rasmus Sandin Michael Hutchinson​

Game Notes

EDM
-Koskinen (2-3-0, 3.23 GAA, .906 Sv%) will likely start for the Oilers
-Edmonton's last game was a 3-1 victory on Wednesday night. That was the first time this season the Oilers held their opponent to just 1 goal. What an embarrassing game that must have been for whoever they played. I mean Koskinen had an .897 Sv% going into that night, give me a break!
-James Neal might be making his season debut after starting the season on the NHL's COVID-19 protocol list

TOR
-Andersen (2-2-0, 3.00 GAA, .886 Sv%) will likely start for the Leafs
-I'm making some assumptions with this roster, starting with the starting goalie. We'll await confirmation on that soon
-The other big one is the status of Matthews, who missed practice yesterday after being a little sore from Wednesday's game
-The rest of the line-up is also a little up in the air as we don't know yet if the Leafs will continue with 11F/7D or scratch one of the defencemen. Barabanov skated on the 4th line at practice, while Dermott and Lehtonen were paired together. That could point to Bogosian being scratched if they go with just 6D. Or it could not. What an exciting time we live in!

Injuries

-Mike Smith - Undisclosed - Injured Reserve -Oscar Klefbom - Shoulder - Out for season -James Neal - COVID-19 Protocol - Out​

-Nick Robertson - Knee - Injured Reserve -Joe Thornton - Undisclosed - Day to day​

Stream Options

BilaSport.net
Sportsurge.net
​

 

[Zee]

Hope Matthews is fine.  Left practice early yesterday Keefe said he "wasn't feeling well"

 

[Sandinius]

I heard Sandin was skating with Bogosian at practice. Will be interesting to see the line up.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

https://twitter.com/reporterchris/status/1352642315249213445

Uh oh

 

[herman]

Nylander in the middle alert?!

https://twitter.com/kristen_shilton/status/1352643260578205699

 

[Heroic Shrimp]

https://twitter.com/kristen_shilton/status/1352642920172695552?s=19

 

[herman]

LMAO

 

[CarltonTheBear]

I'd rather have Nylander play centre than put one of Engvall or Spezza at 3C.

 

[Deebo]

I'd rather have Nylander play centre than put one of Engvall or Spezza at 3C.

This is definitely a better time to try it than an elimination game.

 

[herman]

I'd rather have Nylander play centre than put one of Engvall or Spezza at 3C.

This is definitely a better time to try it than an elimination game.

Perfect opportunity. Let's fritter it.

 

[herman]

Nylander - Tavares - Marner
Mikheyev - Kerfoot - Hyman
Vesey - Spezza - Simmonds
Brooks - Engvall - Barabanov

Rielly - Brodie
Muzzin - Holl
Dermott - Bogosian

(this is not the lineup card)
hahaha this sucks
I tried to do a better one but it hurt

 

[Bender]

Yep

 

[L K]

Nylander - Tavares - Marner
Mikheyev - Kerfoot - Hyman
Vesey - Spezza - Simmonds
Brooks - Engvall - Barabanov

Rielly - Brodie
Muzzin - Holl
Dermott - Bogosian

(this is not the lineup card)
hahaha this sucks
I tried to do a better one but it hurt

I actually like the idea of the Tavares - Nylander - Marner line.  It's also kind of sad how quickly or depth is getting used up.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

I'd probably go:

Vesey-Tavares-Nylander
Hyman-Kerfoot-Marner
Mikheyev-Engvall-Spezza
Barabanov-Brooks-Simmonds

L1 has already been together all season and been mostly successful although now they'll be tasked with tougher match-ups. There was a planned change to have Hyman there but for now that can be postponed. If Vesey can't keep up with those you can swap him with Mikheyev but for now I'd like to keep the depth spread out a little more.

L2 is the checking line but with Marner now. I think that probably makes the most sense.

L3/L4 is whatever. I think L3 had some minutes as a trio last season, or at the very least Engvall and Spezza played together a fair bit, so there will at least be some familiarity there. But you could swap Barabanov or Simmonds for Spezza or Engvall if preferred.

 

[herman]

Let's try again

Hyman - Tavares - Nylander
Mikheyev - Kerfoot - Marner
Vesey - Brooks - Spezza
Barabanov - Engvall - Simmonds

eh...

Mikheyev - Tavares - Hyman
Vesey - Nylander - Marner
Engvall - Kerfoot - Barabanov
Brooks - Spezza - Simmonds

I don't hate this that much

 

[Frank E]

I'd rather have Nylander play centre than put one of Engvall or Spezza at 3C.

This is definitely a better time to try it than an elimination game.

Yeah, I don't think we need to try this anymore.

 

[herman]

I'd probably go:

Vesey-Tavares-Nylander
Hyman-Kerfoot-Marner
Mikheyev-Engvall-Spezza
Barabanov-Brooks-Simmonds

L1 has already been together all season and been mostly successful although now they'll be tasked with tougher match-ups. There was a planned change to have Hyman there but for now that can be postponed. If Vesey can't keep up with those you can swap him with Mikheyev but for now I'd like to keep the depth spread out a little more.

L2 is the checking line but with Marner now. I think that probably makes the most sense.

L3/L4 is whatever. I think L3 had some minutes as a trio last season, or at the very least Engvall and Spezza played together a fair bit, so there will at least be some familiarity there. But you could swap Barabanov or Simmonds for Spezza or Engvall if preferred.

I think that's a thoughtful build, albeit a waste of Marner's offense at 5v5 (not that there has been much this season). That said, Marner is an 11M guy and now is the time to show he is as on par with Matthews as he believes he is.

PP1 is getting stacked by default now
Hyman/Simmonds
Nylander - Tavares - Marner
Rielly

 

[CarltonTheBear]

I think that's a thoughtful build, albeit a waste of Marner's offense at 5v5.

Maybe. Although I would say the big problem with the offence of that checking line this season has been the lack of a primary puck carrier. Hyman seems to have been doing much of that from my view so having Marner in charge of carrying the puck through the neutral zone could provide an offensive boost to those guys. In any event, these non-Matthews lines will hopefully only need to get us through a game or two so I wouldn't worry too much about something like that.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Where's Denis Malgin when you need him.

 

[herman]

Where's Denis Malgin when you need him.

Petan is around, right?