Leafs' projected lines for Saturday's game against the Flames, minus Nick Robertson and likely Pierre Engvall
The Leafs are 8-0-2 over their last 10 games and have begun a new winning streak thanks to a decisive 5-0 win over the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday evening. They're one of the hottest teams in the NHL, which is actually quite surprising when you consider the injuries they've dealt with in recent weeks.
Following last night's game, the Leafs will be without the services of 21-year-old Nick Robertson for the foreseeable future, thanks to a significant shoulder injury following a hit from LA's Matt Roy. They're also likely to be missing winger Pierre Engvall for a few games after it was announced that he will have a hearing for an "intent to injure" infraction against LA's Sean Durzi. With these two absences in mind, here's how the Leafs' lines looked during practice on Friday:
Bunting-Matthews-NylanderMalgin-Tavares-MarnerKerfoot-Kampf-Engvall*AstonReese-Holmberg-SimmondsAbsent: Anderson
Giordano-HollSandin-LiljegrenBrodie-TimminsHollowell
*Engvall to have hearing.
Denis Malgin appears to be the beneficiary of the unfortunate Robertson injury, skating in top six blue along with John Tavares and the scorching hot Mitch Marner, who is currently riding a 21-game point streak. As was previously announced, Wayne Simmonds is expected to draw back into the lineup on Saturday. On Friday, he skated with Pontus Holmberg and Zach Aston-Reese on the team's 4th line.
As for Joey Anderson, who was called up from the AHL's Toronto Marlies on Friday, it is expected that he'll slot in on the team's third line with Alexander Kerfoot and David Kampf if Engvall is indeed suspended. Anderson was absent from practice on Friday, but that's likely because the Marlies are in Syracuse to take on the Crunch today. If that's the case, Anderson is probably on his way back to Toronto and will join the team for tomorrow's morning skate.
There appear to be no changes to the team's defense corps. It looks like T.J. Brodie will remain on the team's third pair, alongside the newly-acquired Conor Timmins, while the pairing of Rasmus Sandin and Timothy Liljegren will look to continue their stellar play. The surprisingly effective Mark Giordano and Justin Holl will reprise their role as the team's top pair.
At this point, the Leafs have not announced who will get the nod on Saturday against the Flames in goal - not that it matters. Both Ilya Samsonov and Matt Murray have been providing the Leafs with exceptional goaltending this season and both are coming off of shutout wins. With Samsonov getting Thursday's start, I'd venture to guess that Matt Murray will start on Saturday, but if the Leafs do want to continue to load manage Murray and providing some extra rest to ensure that he stays healthy, we could very well see Samsonov receive his 2nd start in as many games.
| POLL | ||
9 DECEMBRE | 268 ANSWERS Leafs' projected lines for Saturday's game against the Flames, minus Nick Robertson and likely Pierre Engvall Who should the Leafs start against Calgary on Saturday? | ||
| Matt Murray | 150 | 56 % |
| Ilya Samsonov | 32 | 11.9 % |
| Don't care - they're both playing great! | 86 | 32.1 % |
| List of polls | ||
