Looking to end their two-game losing slide, the Maple Leafs host a Minnesota Wild team that is without Kirill Kaprizov but is the league’s best road team this season with an 18-5-3 record away from home (7:00 p.m. EST, Sportsnet).
In the first meeting of the two-game season series in Minnesota on November 3rd, the Leafs lost a low-event game by a score of 2-1 in overtime while getting outshot in all three periods at even strength (33.72% xGF, 36.7% CF). It was a back-to-back situation for Toronto — and it was the game before Matthews left the lineup for nine games due to injury — but in the Auston Matthews vs. Joel Eriksson-Ek matchup, the Wild owned 92% of the shot attempts (12-1) and 100% of the shots on goal (5-0) at five-on-five. source
Bobby McMann — Auston Matthews — Mitch Marner
Max Domi — Pontus Holmberg — William Nylander
Max Pacioretty — Fraser Minten — Nicholas Robertson
Steven Lorentz — David Kampf — Ryan Reaves
Morgan Rielly — Jake McCabe
Oliver Ekman-Larsson — Chris Tanev
Simon Benoit — Phillippe Myers
Joseph Woll
Matt Murray
Scratched: Jacob Quillan, Nikita Grebenkin, Conor Timmins
Injured: Jani Hakanpaa (lower body), Calle Jarnkrok (lower body), Anthony Stolarz (lower body), John Tavares (lower body), Connor Dewar (upper body), Matthew Knies (upper body)
Status report: Pacioretty, who missed three games, will return after taking a puck to the head in a 7-3 win at the Montreal Canadiens on Jan. 18.
Typical slow start, give up the first goal.
Or two. 😭