After a pathetic effort against the Kings on Tuesday night, the Leafs are back and, this time, facing off against the Boston Bruins. The Bruins are still defying expectations with their red-hot start, even with Bergeron and Krejci no longer on the team. The Leafs need to show up tonight, or they’ll end up being blown out, as the Bruins are punishing teams that aren’t ready to play against them. The Leafs tend to have mediocre Octobers and then follow them up with unreal Novembers, so with their first game of November, they will look to start building momentum and getting more systems in place. Bertuzzi faces off against the team he played on during the playoffs last year and will be looking to have a “revenge” game.
Leafs Projected Lineup
Three Things to Look Out For
Kampf
David Kampf signed an extension with the Leafs this past offseason, and with a cap hit over $2M, he is being paid typical third-line money. The issue with this is Kampf’s skillset requires a specific style of winger to succeed. See Engvall and Mikheyev as examples. Kampf’s play has dropped this season, as has his faceoff win percentage. It’s still early, and Kampf is a hard worker, so he will be looking to bring his game back up to the level defensively he has had in his early days with the Leafs.
Holmberg
Pontus Holmberg looked solid with the Leafs last season and was ultimately pushed out of the lineup due to trade deadline acquisitions. He’s looking to play a bigger role this year, and when Fraser Minten was sent back to Junior, this opened the door for Holmberg. So far, Holmberg’s start has been bland. That may be due to his linemates or him shaking off some rust, but Holmberg is someone I’m hoping for more from on this Leafs roster. He has shown lots of signs of promise, so even though his ice time is lower, I’m looking for him to start contributing further to this Leafs roster.
Marner
Many fans seem to think that Marner has had a slow start to the year. Sitting at 8 points in 9 games, that is true compared to his previous seasons as he generally averages out at a pace close to 100 points per season. With that said, Marner is still playing hockey at a high level, even with things not going his way as much as normal. It seems like things just haven’t fully clicked yet with Marner and Matthews, and it’s a matter of them continuing to put in work and maybe make some slight adjustments. Marner is an elite playmaker with a solid shot too, so as he has stated, if he starts to use his shot as a threat, it may leave Matthews open more often, and if they don’t respect his shot, maybe he will end up on the board. Look for Marner to keep pushing tonight and help contribute both offensively and defensively for the Lefas.
Ilya Samsonov is back in the Leafs net tonight with a shot at redemption as the Leafs face off against the Bruins at 7:30 pm EST on Sportsnet!
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