Sabres @ Leafs - Oct. 15th, 7:00pm - TSN4

[CarltonTheBear]

	​
Buffalo Sabres 3-3-1, 7 points​	@​	Toronto Maple Leafs 3-3-1, 7 points​

Projected Line-ups​

Krebs-Thompson-Doan Benson-Ostlund-Quinn Kulich-McLeod-Helenius Danforth-Norris-Malenstyn Samuelsson-Zellweger Power-Metsa Gilbert-Crevier Luukkonen​

Marchenko-Matthews-Roslovic Cowan-Tavares-Nylander McKenna-Paul-Sissons Duhaime-Blueger McCabe-Raddysh Rielly-Stecher OEL-Blankenburg Rifai Bobrovsky​

Scratches​

Tyson Kozak Sam Carrick Rasmus Dahlin​

​

Miles Wood Zach MacEwen Bo Groulx​

Injuries​

Ramus Dahlin - Upper Body - Day to day Matt Grzelcyk - Lower Body - Injured Reserve Alex Lyon - Upper Body - Injured Reserve Conor Timmins - Lower Body - Injured Reserve​

​

Chris Tanev - Upper Body - Injured Reserve Dakota Joshua - Abdomen - Injured Reserve Elvis Merzlikins - Shoulder - Injured Reserve Max Domi - Back - Injured Reserve​

Game Notes​

BUF -Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen will likely start for the Sabres -Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin left Buffalo's last game with an upper-body injury and it seems doubtful that he'll be with the team in Toronto

TOR -Sergei Bobrovsky will likely start for the Leafs -Toronto has of course dressed 7 defencemen for their past 2 games. We'll see if they stick with that or get one of Groulx, MacEwen, or Miles Wood into the line-up

Streams​

Sportsurge OnHockey NHL66​

 

[L K]

I'm not going to call this a must win game or anything but the Leafs do need to show that they can beat teams in the Atlantic. That burned them a lot last year.

 

[Bender]

They have as good a shot as any with Dahlin injured. Better make the most of it.

 

[herman]

I see why the Leafs are going 11/7 right now. With Rifai as an option back there, they're basically splitting Rielly's original assignments into defense deployment (Rifai) vs offensive deployment (Rielly) whenever there is control available. Rielly still managed to pick up multiple dashes on his ledger.

Top guns get juiced a few more minutes here and there.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Top guns get juiced a few more minutes here and there.

It did happen a little I think but I'd like to see the extra forward getting shifts alongside McKenna and Paul more instead of on the 4th line.

 

[herman]

It did happen a little I think but I'd like to see the extra forward getting shifts alongside McKenna and Paul more instead of on the 4th line.

McKenna - Paul - Marchenko or Nylander would work out nicely over time.

Hiller sounds like he might step back from 11/7 tonight.

 

[herman]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2110766105346113788

Oh fun

 

[YYZ]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2110766105346113788

Oh fun

Hiller loves his Vitamix and isn't afraid to use it.

 

[cabber24]

I kind of like the crazy lines. With McKenna and Cowan being in and out of the top 6, they can now do their own thing. The Nylander-JT divorce was necessary.

I don't know what's going to happen with that JT line. If Chayka's theory about Marchenko being able to dictate an outcome of the game is true, hopefully he can drive his own line.

 

[herman]

I don't know what's going to happen with that JT line. If Chayka's theory about Marchenko being able to dictate an outcome of the game is true, hopefully he can drive his own line.

He's basically another winger with Nylander's toolkit, which in theory helps and complements Tavares. the only issue with the original Nylander was his weaknesses were compounding with Tavares', while not really optimizing strengths all that much.

I think Marchenko can be a really good fit for Tavares as they're both more straight-line players, compared to Nylander's freelancing E-W structure breaking (for both sides) approach. It's fine that both 86 and 91 are shooters as they both have underrated passing as well. It's like... Bobby McMann but better hands and vision. Marchenko should have no compunctions about deferring play on this line. He will carry the puck, and set up the other two to work the walls.

We've seen the Leafs have success with Nylander + 2 heavy linemates working the puck free off the boards. If Roslovic continues to exercise his speed on F1 and Matthews continues his dominance on the walls as that next layer, they could have something cooking similar to the Marchenko version of the line that can strike off the rush or off the cycle.

 

[Bender]

He's basically another winger with Nylander's toolkit, which in theory helps and complements Tavares. the only issue with the original Nylander was his weaknesses were compounding with Tavares', while not really optimizing strengths all that much.

I think Marchenko can be a really good fit for Tavares as they're both more straight-line players, compared to Nylander's freelancing E-W structure breaking (for both sides) approach. It's fine that both 86 and 91 are shooters as they both have underrated passing as well. It's like... Bobby McMann but better hands and vision. Marchenko should have no compunctions about deferring play on this line. He will carry the puck, and set up the other two to work the walls.

We've seen the Leafs have success with Nylander + 2 heavy linemates working the puck free off the boards. If Roslovic continues to exercise his speed on F1 and Matthews continues his dominance on the walls as that next layer, they could have something cooking similar to the Marchenko version of the line that can strike off the rush or off the cycle.

Definitely interesting with Nick Paul being the digger of that line. I also like the idea of Cowan and Sissons playing a greasier game to give McKenna a bit more time and space but I also wonder if Sissons is a bit of a black hole offensively. I do like that we're at least trying something.

 

[Redleaf]

I’ve been waiting to see Cowan and McKenna on the same line. They seem like they’re getting chummy on the bench and hopefully they can make some sparks fly on a line together.

 

[Arn]

Cowan and McKenna going to work great with McDavid between them in the future. Nice of Sissons to play placeholder.

 

[YYZ]

Cowan and McKenna going to work great with McDavid between them in the future. Nice of Sissons to play placeholder.

It's basically the same thing.

 

[cujo4ever]

Go Leafs Go!