Washington Capitals vs Toronto Maple Leafs – 21/2/2019 – Game Day Preview

Gameday Preview:  Washington Capitals vs Toronto Maple Leafs

Time: Thursday, February 21h  2019

Toronto: 36-19-4 for 76 points

St.Louis: 25-27-5 for 55 points

The Toronto Maple Leafs look to jump back into the winning column against the surging Blues. Leafs need a big game here from the big guns.

Top Scorers/Goalie Matchup

Mitch Marner –69 points (21 goals 48 assists)
John Tavares – 63 points (33 goals 30 assists) 54% on face-offs
Morgan Rielly – 57 points (15 goals 42 assists)
Auston Matthews – 54 points (28 goals 26 assists) 53% on Face-offs

Alex Ovechkin – 69 points (42 goals 27 assists)
Nicklas Backstrom– 56 points (13 goal 43 assists)
Evgeny Kuznetsov – 54 points (15 goal 39 assists)
John Carlson – 54 points (9 goals 45 assists)

Frederik Andersen
27-12-3 2.57GAA .923SV%

Brayden Holtby
20-15-4 3.04GAA .907SV%

Lineups:

Toronto:

Patrick Marleau  – Auston Matthews – Kasperi Kapanen

Mitch Marner – John Tavares – Zach Hyman

Connor Brown – Nazem Kadri – William Nylander

Andreas Johnsson – Pars Lindholm – Frederik Gauthier

 

Morgan Rielly  – Jake Muzzin

Jake Gardiner – Nikita Zaitsev

Travis Dermott – Ron Hainsey

 

Frederik Andersen

Garrett Sparks

 

Scratched: Justin Holl

Injuries: Nathan Horton (Back), Andreas Johnsson (Knee)

Suspension: None

 

Washington Capitals:

Alex Ovechkin — Evgeny Kuznetsov — Tom Wilson

Jakub Vrana — Nicklas Backstrom — T.J. Oshie

Andre Burakovsky — Lars Eller — Brett Connolly

Chandler Stephenson —Nic Dowd –  Travis Boyd

 

Michal Kempny — John Carlson

Dmitry Orlov — Matt Niskanen

Brooks Orpik — Christian Djoos

 

Braden Holtby

Pheonix Copley

 

Scratched: None

Injured: None

 

Keys to Winning against Washington:

  1. Speed
    1. Last game the Leafs played, they were slow and sluggish in every aspect of their game. Until late in the game. Intensity needs to be there all game to hang with the Capitals.
  2. Powerplay
    1. Don’t take penalties against this lethal powerplay. Ovechkin, Carlson or Kuznetsov – to name a few – will all make you pay.
  3. Depth
    1. Needs to step up to make this team very scary

 

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