Leafs Game Preview #12: Liljegren Returns

The Leafs come into tonight’s bout vs. the Bruins after playing their most complete game of the season with a 5-2 win over the Flyers. For how shaky their game has seemed, being at a 5-4-2 record is excellent. With that said, they are against one of the hottest teams in the league, the 10-1-0 Bruins, who have won 7 games in a row. Tonight’s game for the Leafs is also significant, as they have defenseman Liljegren back in the lineup and have just lost Aube-Kubel on waivers. While Aube-Kubel didn’t fully pan out well, it is good to see him getting another chance in the NHL.

Another key thing to note tonight is “Hockey Fights Cancer” night. The Leafs will be wearing special warmup jerseys. I’m sure there’s even more meaning tonight with Rodion Amirov’s battle with cancer.

Leafs Projected Lineup

Forwards

Bunting – Matthews – Marner

Kerfoot – Tavares – Nylander

Järnkrok – Engvall – Simmonds

Aston-Reese – Kämpf – Malgin

Defense

Brodie – Holl

Rielly – Liljegren

Giordano – Sandin

Goalies

Samsonov

Källgren

Bruins Projected Lineup

Forwards

Marchand – Bergeron – DeBrusk

Hall – Krejci – Pastrnak

Zacha – Coyle – Frederic

Foligno – Nosek – Greer

Defense

Lindholm – Clifton

Grzelcyk – Carlo

Reilly – Stralman

Goalies

Ullmark

Kinkaid

Three Things to Look Out For

Timothy Liljegren

After suffering a hernia injury shortly before training camp started, Liljegren is finally set to make his NHL season debut tonight. Liljegren was a key part of the Leafs team last year and is looking to build momentum starting tonight. Liljegren will be paired with Rielly tonight. I’m looking forward to seeing how Liljegren improves this team’s defense, and starting with Rielly as his partner is a solid chance for him to contribute.

4th Line to Stick?

It seems like every game; the Leafs have shifted their 4th line. Tonight is the first night in quite some time where they will be icing the same 4th line. Tonight, Malgin looks to contribute offensively, while Aston-Reese and Kämpf look to build off solid defensive outings this past Wednesday. With another solid outing, the Leafs may have found a 4th line worth keeping.

Engvall may be at center?

Based on line rushes in practice so far, it has looked like Engvall may start tonight’s game at center. I’m not sure if that will last through the night, but if Engvall can add versatility to his game, he will be closer to consistently locking a spot in the lineup. The third line so far this year has also looked lacking, so at this point, I think the Leafs are trying any possibility to find one that sticks. We will see if tonight’s experiment works.

Predictions

This is a new segment of the pre-game articles, where each game, there will be three predictions that will be answered between our Leafs’ writing team, Leafs’ Late Night team, and a coin flip. We will track it throughout the season to see who is the most accurate! The coin flip will always have heads as the home team and tails as the away team.

Who will walk away with the win tonight?

Nathan: Bruins

Josh: Leafs

Mike: –

Steph: –

Johnny: Leafs

Coin: Bruins

Who will score first? Bruins or Leafs?

Nathan: Leafs

Josh: Leafs

Mike: –

Steph: –

Johnny: Leafs

Coin: Bruins

Will Liljegren record over/under 3.5 hits?

Nathan: Over

Josh: Under

Mike: –

Steph: –

Johnny: Under

Coin (over=heads, under=tails): Under

You can watch tonight’s game on Sportsnet 1 beginning at 7:00 pm EST.

Thanks for reading! Feel free to follow me on Twitter @nathan_bondy.

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