Maple Leafs Close Out Back-to-Backs In Dallas

PUBLICATION

January 25, 2018 (3:29 PM)

SHARE THIS STORY

"Toronto Maple Leafs 59 pts (27-18-5)
@
Dallas Stars 60 pts (28-17-4)
8:30 p.m. ET
American Airlines Center � Dallas, TX
TV: TSN4
Radio: TSN 1050 AM

Season Series/Schedule
Date Game GWG
25-Jan TOR @ DAL
14-Mar DAL @ TOR

Team Leaders
Maple Leafs Stars
Auston Matthews, 36 Points John Klingberg, 48
Auston Matthews, 21 Goals Tyler Seguin, 22
Rielly/Marner, 26 Assists John Klingberg, 42

The Toronto Maple Leafs will close out a very tough pair of back-to-back games in Dallas tonight after beating the Blackhawks in Chicago last night. This will be the team's final game before Auston Matthews heads to Tampa Bay to represent the Leafs at the All-Star Weekend.
For many years, the Stars were a team with a scary offense and even scarier defense (at least for Stars fans). The additions of Ben Bishop between the pipes and Ken Hitchcock, to go along with the emergence of John Klingberg, has greatly improved the team defense and they have been moving up the Western Conference standings because of it. They have actually given 16 fewer goals than the Maple Leafs have this season.
The Stars enter tonight's game with just two regulation losses in their last 10 games, including a 6-1 beating of the Florida Panthers on Tuesday night. They are 12-4-4 versus Eastern Conference opponents this year.
The Maple Leafs did not hold a morning skate today after playing last night. We should expect Mike Babcock to start with the same lines we saw last, but how long they last is another story. While the new combinations were good enough to win in Chicago, they were far from spectacular.
Curtis McElhinney is expected to get the start in net for the Leafs.

Probable Maple Leafs Lineup
FORWARDS
Zach Hyman - Auston Matthews - William Nylander
Patrick Marleau - Nazem Kadri - Mitch Marner
James van Riemsdyk - Tyler Bozak - Connor Brown
Leo Komarov - Dominic Moore - Kasperi Kapanen
DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS
Jake Gardiner - Ron Hainsey
Travis Dermott - Connor Carrick
Andreas Borgman - Roman Polak
GOALTENDERS
Curtis McElhinney (3-4-0, 2.78 GAA, .916 save %, 1 SO)
INJURY REPORT
LW-Joffrey Lupul (sports hernia) , RW-Nikita Soshnikov (lower-body) out, D-Nikita Zaitsev (lower-body) out, D-Morgan Rielly (upper-body) out

Probable Stars Lineup
FORWARDS
Jamie Benn - Tyler Seguin - Alexander Radulov
Devin Shore - Jason Spezza - Mattias Janmark
Antoine Roussel - Radek Faksa - Tyler Pitlick
Remi Elie - Jason Dickinson - Brett Ritchie
DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS
Esa Lindell - John Klingberg
Dan Hamhuis - Greg Pateryn
Dillon Heatherington - Stephen Johns
GOALTENDER
Ben Bishop (21-12-3, 2.42 GAA, .918 save %, 4 SO)
INJURY REPORT
D-Marc Methot (knee) out, C-Martin Hanzal (lower-body) day-to-day"

MUST READ