The Leafs will visit the Tampa Bay Lightning tonight with the puck dropping around 7:30. Toronto will then take on the Florida Panthers the following night. The Maple Leafs end the week with an outdoor game against the Washington Capitals. It won't be an easy week for the Leafs, but there is certainly potential to get some points.
The Maple Leafs need to get the first goal of the game to build momentum and take the home crowd out of the game. The Leafs should have their newest addition, Tomas Plekanec in the lineup tonight so that will add another good two way player to the mix. Toronto needs to play well while on special teams since they allow as much as they score when playing at even strength. The Maple Leafs want to get a good game out of goaltender, Freddie Andersen, who has been very good for most of this season. The Leafs will want to find a way to neutralize Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov since they are the leading point getters on the Lightning.
The Bolts need to come out with some energy in their game against the Leafs on Monday night since the teams are only separated by four points in the standings. The Lightning should try to play with some discipline since their penalty kill has struggled all season. Tampa Bay will need to neutralize the speed of the Maple Leafs especially through the neutral zone to avoid odd man rushes. The Bolts should try to get the forecheck game going often and early since the Leafs do tend to turn the puck over when under pressure. The Lightning will want to keep an eye on Mitch Marner, who has been on absolute fire of late, creating and scoring in the offensive zone because of his speed.
The Leafs need to establish a good forecheck against the Panthers and make sure that they roll all four lines since they will have played the night before. Toronto will need to stop the top six of the Panthers since they tend to produce a good amount of the points for Florida. The Mapple Leafs will need to play defense and not let the game become wide open. Toronto should take advantage of their power plays because the Panthers aren't a very good penalty killing team. The Leafs want to get pucks to the net with traffic in front since the goaltending hasn't exactly been great for Florida this year.
The Panthers need to get off to a good start and play with some energy because they don't want to fall behind by a lot early in the game. Florida should try to get the first goal of the game to keep the crowd in the game. The Panthers want to get a good game from the goalie since the Leafs tend to have some high quality scoring chances throughout a game. Florida will want to play with discipline and stay out of the penalty box while limiting their own mistakes.
Toronto then heads outside to face off against the Washington Capitals on Saturday night. The Leafs will want to keep the Capitals defense under pressure and force them into turning them puck over. The Maple Leafs need to get a big fame from the starting goalie since there will be some chances in this game that will feature two high flying offenses. Toronto should limit their mistakes, and see if they can get Tomas Plekanec involved often and early in the game. The Leafs need to be aware of Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom when they are on the ice.
The Caps also need to get a good game from the goaltending because the Leafs can use their speed in transition. Washington should try to get a ton of traffic in front of the Leafs net for deflections and to take the goalie's eyes off the puck. The Capitals will want to capitalize on the mistakes that the Leafs are going to make and keep pushing even if they get down in the game. They'll need to be aware of the defenseman Morgan Reilly and Jake Gardiner since they both like to get involved in the offensive zone.
No comments:
Post a Comment