Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Minnesota Wild -- Preview, Projected Lines ...
Sheldon Keefe on the play of his four lines as the team has strung together wins over the last week:
If we can get more than one line going at a time, that’s what we are looking to do. We still haven’t had a game where I would say all the lines were clicking.
Sometimes it has been our third line going. Our fourth line scored a couple of goals before we came out here. The Tavares line was going the other night. The Matthews line has had their big nights at different times. We haven’t had them all flowing at the same time here yet. We are looking for that to happen — if not all of them, certainly, more than one is what you would like to see.
Through all of this, we have put together really solid defensive games of late that have given us a chance to win every game. We have been able to find ways to win, especially in the last couple of games. We haven’t beaten ourselves and limited what we have given up. We have gotten saves when we have made mistakes.
The recipe has been there for us, and we want to keep building on that going forward.
Keefe on the reasons behind Tyler Bertuzzi’s strong form of late:
I just think he is a good player. You guys asked me a while back what I felt some of the new guys needed. It was time. Everybody works on different a timetable, needs different things, and adjusts in different ways.
Bert has been trending in a positive direction for quite some time now. The offensive results are starting to be there. He has been doing lots of little things well for a good period of time.
To that end, I am not surprised that the results are coming because he is a good player. I think he can feel good about what he has put forth over the last couple of weeks. Certainly, the confidence should be there coming off of the last game. He came through in a big moment for us to help us win a game against his former team.
He can keep building upon that.
Wild head coach Dean Evason on his team’s approach to its second game in under 24 hours:
It is just hockey, right? When the puck drops, who cares? They have all played back-to-back games. They have all played short. It is not anything new to them. They are professional athletes. They’ll be ready to play.
Evason on Kirill Kaprizov’s down form offensively (six points, minus-eight in his last 10):
We have tried different things. He is such a willing guy and competitor. It is driving him as nuts as it is everyone else. He wants to help his hockey club.
The bottom line is that he has to get back to going forward, working, and competing. He is doing that. Hopefully, one of these games he has one of those breakout games that we have seen before that jumpstarts not only him but the hockey club as well.
Evason on the return of Frederick Gaudreau from injury and the possible return of Ryan Hartman (a game-time decision with an illness):
We are excited to have Freddy in our lineup. He is a big part of our team. He does a lot of different things for us offensively and defensively. Hopefully, Hartman’s energy level and his battle level can be as high as it normally is and he can give us a boost as well.
Head-to-Head Stats: Maple Leafs vs. Wild Toronto Maple Leafs Projected LinesForwards#23 Matthew Knies – #34 Auston Matthews – #16 Mitch Marner#59 Tyler Bertuzzi – #91 John Tavares – #88 William Nylander#89 Nick Robertson – #11 Max Domi – #19 Calle Jarnkrok#74 Bobby McMann – #64 David Kampf – #18 Noah Gregor
Defensemen#44 Morgan Rielly – #78 TJ Brodie#55 Mark Giordano – #22 Jake McCabe#2 Simon Benoit – #85 William Lagesson
GoaltendersStarter: #60 Joseph Woll#35 Ilya Samsonov
Scratched: Ryan ReavesInjured: John Klingberg, Conor Timmins, Timothy Liljegren
Minnesota Wild Projected LinesForwards#97 Kirill Kaprizov – #23 Marco Rossi – #36 Mats Zuccarello#17 Marcus Foligno – #14 Joel Eriksson Ek – #38 Ryan Hartman*#90 Marcus Johansson – #89 Frederick Gaudreau – #12 Matthew Boldy#21 Brandon Duhaime – #26 Connor Dewar – #20 Patrick Maroon
Defensemen#25 Jonas Brodin – #7 Brock Faber#5 Jacob Middleton – #46 Jared Spurgeon#4 Jon Merill – #24 Zach Bogosian
GoaltendersStarter: #29 Marc-Andre Fleury#32 Filip Gustavsson
*game-time decision
Injured: Mason Shaw, Alex Goligoski, Frederick Gaudreau
