About the Maple Leafs - 03-14-13
A preview of the Maple Leafs.
When and where: 7 p.m. EDT. Air Canada Centre.
TV: Rpot Sports, Sportsnet-Ontario, RDS.
Record: 15-11-1, 31 points. The Maple Leafs are in sixth place in the Eastern Conference and fourth place in the Northeast Division.
Leading Scorer: Nazem Kadri, 25 points (11 goals, 14 assists).
Last Game: 5-2 road loss, Wednesday. Phil Kessel (right) scored two goals for the Maple Leafs.
Last Game against the Penguins:5-4 home shootout loss, Saturday. Paul Martin and James Neal each had a regulation goal and an assist for the Penguins.
Maple Leafs Player We Would Bet Money On Scoring: Clarke MacArthur. He has scored in eight consecutive games against the Penguins.
Ex-Penguins on the Maple Leafs : Randy Carlyle, head coach.
Ex-Maple Leafs on the Penguins: None.
Useless Maple Leafs Trivia Vaguely Related to the Penguins: Former Penguins defenseman Tim Horton holds the Maple Leafs' franchise record for career games by a defenseman with 1,185.
Best Maple Leafs Video We Could Find: Former Penguins and Maple Leafs left winger Eddie Shack pitching for a hotel chain in the 1990s:
Probable goaltenders: Marc-Andre Fleury (13-5-0, 2.67 GAA, .901 SV%) for the Penguins. Ben Scrivens (6-7-0, 2.51 GAA, .919 SV%) for the Maple Leafs.
Injuries: For the Penguins, center Evgeni Malkin ("upper-body") is out. For the Maple Leafs, left winger Joffrey Lupul (forearm) is on injured reserve.
-Potential lines and defensive pairings: The Penguins primary lines during practice today were: (PG+)
14 Chris Kunitz - 87 Sidney Crosby - 9 Pascal Dupuis
19 Beau Bennett - 15 Dustin Jeffrey - 18 James Neal
24 Matt Cooke - 16 Brandon Sutter - 48 Tyler Kennedy
10 Tanner Glass - 15 Dustin Jeffrey - 27 Craig Adams
47 Simon Despres - 58 Kris Letang
44 Brooks Orpik - 7 Paul Martin
2 Matt Niskanen - 5 Deryk Engelland
-The Maple Leafs did not hold a full morning skate. Based on their lines and pairings against the Jets Tuesday, consider this an educated guess:
21 James van Riemsdyk - 42 Tyler Bozak - 81 Phil Kessel
39 Matt Frattin - 84 Mikhail Grabovski- 41 Nikolai Kulemin
16 Clarke MacArthur - 43 Nazem Kadri - 47 Leo Komarov
38 Frazer McLaren - 11 Jay McClement - 28 Colton Orr
3 Dion Phaneuf - 55 Korbinian Holzer
36 Carl Gunnarsson- 24 John-Michael Liles
45 Mark Fraser- 4 Cody Franson
Notes:
-The last time the Penguins played the Maple Leafs, this happened:
-The great Joe Vitale has appeared in 99 career games.
-Letang has 198 career points.
-Fleury has 22 career shutouts. He needs one more to surpass goaltender Tom Barrasso for most in franchise history.
-Goaltender Tomas Vokoun had 49 career shutouts.
-Orpik plans on wearing a visor for the first time in his NHL career (PG+).
-Our live blog begins at approximately 6:55 p.m. Please tune in.
(Photo: Claus Andersen/Getty Images)