Detroit Red Wings Welcome Toronto Maple Leafs in Last Game Before All-Star Break
After last night’s disappointing OT loss to the Boston Bruins at TD Garden, the Detroit Red Wings head right back home to face off against the incoming Toronto Maple Leafs.
The only thing standing between the Detroit Red Wings and the All-Star Break is the Toronto Maple Leafs. Toronto is coming off a 4-0 home win over the Calgary Flames, and they have also compiled a 5-2-2 record since the Centennial Classic.
On the other hand, the Wings lost in overtime for the third consecutive game. Yes, they’re getting points, but they’re also leaving points on the table at the same time.
Preliminary Info
Who? Detroit Red Wings (20-19-9, 7th in Atlantic) and Toronto Maple Leafs (22-14-9, 4th in Atlantic)
Where? Joe Louis Arena
When? 7:00pm EST
TV: Fox Sports Detroit
Radio: Click here to check your local listings
Leading Scorers
Maple Leafs points: Mitch Marner, 39. Maple Leafs goals: Auston Matthews, 22. Maple Leafs assists: Mitch Marner, 28.
Red Wings points: Henrik Zetterberg, 33 Red Wings goals: Thomas Vanek and Dylan Larkin, 12. Red Wings assists: Henrik Zetterberg, 24.
Recent History
This is the second of four match-ups between the Red Wings and Maple Leafs this season. The first was the Centennial Classic on January 1, a game that featured seven third period goals, an epic Red Wings comeback to tie it at 4-4, and an overtime winner by Toronto’s young phenom Auston Matthews.
Last season, the Wings defeated the Leafs three times in four contests. Since they moved to the Eastern Conference in 2013, Detroit has accumulated an 8-3-3 record against Toronto overall.
Probable Lineup
Forwards
Nyquist-Zetterberg-Mantha
Athanasiou-Nielsen-Tatar
Abdelkader-Sheahan-Jurco
Miller-Helm-Glendening
Defensemen
DeKeyser-Green
Ericsson-Ouellet
Kronwall-Jensen
Goaltenders
Mrazek
Coreau
Keys to the Game
The Maple Leafs’ rebuild has been astounding. No one expected them to play this well in just a short amount of time. Heck, the Leafs currently occupy the second wild card spot! The keys to their success have not only been their nine rookies and young guns—namely Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander, Connor Brown, and Zach Hyman—but also the veterans who survived the rebuild. James van Riemsdyk, Nazem Kadri, and Tyler Bozak are all top five point-getters for Toronto.
Although the Wings contained the Leafs in the first forty minutes in the Centennial Classic, Toronto erupted in the third. It took a heroic comeback for the Wings to scrape a point out of what seemed like a suddenly lost contest. This team can score: the Leafs are sixth in the league in goals for and sport the league’s second best power play. The Red Wings will need to be solid on defense and in net, much like they were in the first two periods of the Centennial Classic. If they allow as many shots as they did against Boston last night, it’s going to be tough getting those two points.
It’s cliche, but Detroit needs to go to the net and adopt a shoot-first mentality. This is especially critical, for Toronto surrenders the fourth-most shots on goal per game and is a middle-of-the-pack team in goals against per game. As we saw in the Centennial Classic, the Maple Leafs still struggle to hold leads. And as good as the Red Wings have been in roaring back from deficits, why go through the pain of that? Get the game’s first couple goals and never stop firing pucks at the net.
Bold Prediction
Again, every time I pick the Red Wings to lose, they win. So I predict the Maple Leafs win 3-2.