Leafs appear to have the lineup set for Friday's game against the Penguins
The Leafs are coming off of a 3-game set against 3 of the league's top teams (Boston, Carolina and Vegas) and racked up 5 of a possible 6 points, which is certainly impressive, considering where this team was at just 2 short weeks ago.
The Leafs have yet another back-to-back coming up this weekend, starting with a meeting against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday, followed up by a meeting with the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday. At least this back-to-back is a homestand and doesn't involve travel, like the Boston/Carolina games last week.
Following a tough 4-3 OT loss to Vegas on Tuesday, the Leafs were back on the ice for practice on Thursday. Per Sports Illustrated's David Alter, the Leafs' lineup, barring any late changes, will look like this on Friday against the Pens. Of note, Matthews and Marner remain together just 2 games after being separated in Carolina.
Kerfoot-Matthews-Marner
Robertson-Tavares-Nylander
Bunting-Engvall-Jarnkrok
Aston-Reese-Kampf-Malgin
Rielly-Liljegren
Brodie-Holl
Giordano-Sandin
Kallgren
Petruzzelli
It is worth noting that Simmonds and Clifford skated with the team as extras (Clifford wearing a red no-contact jersey) and injured goaltender Matt Murray took part in his second full practice in as many days and looks to be nearing a return to the lineup.
The Leafs have narrowed the gap on Boston, now sitting just 5 points back of the Bruins for the Atlantic Division lead. If they can string together a couple of wins this weekend, followed by a couple of Bruins losses, they'll sit just 1 point back of the B's for the division lead. Crazy, when you consider that the Leafs were 7th in the Division a couple weeks back.
| POLL | ||
NOVEMBRE 10 | 199 ANSWERS Leafs appear to have the lineup set for Friday's game against the Penguins Will the Leafs win their upcoming back-to-back against Pittsburgh and Vancouver? | ||
| Yes | 126 | 63.3 % |
| No | 26 | 13.1 % |
| They'll go 1-1 | 47 | 23.6 % |
| List of polls | ||
