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Toronto Maple Leafs vs. St. Louis Blues – Preview, Line Predictions and TV Schedule Information

Posted on by Neons

The Maple Leafs are moving forward without Morgan Rielly as they host the St. Louis Blues at Scotiabank Arena (7 p.m. EST, TSN4).

The Blues are 15-7-1 under interim head coach Drew Bannister. Despite being at the bottom of the league in terms of possessions and expected goals, special teams, timely scoring and goaltending have won them games that seem inconsistent.

Despite that, positive results – including Sunday's recent 7-2 win over Montreal – have the Blues in a confident mindset at the moment, and the challenge for the Leafs seems to be that they can't meet Saturday against the Senators. If they turn the puck into bad spots and feed the opposition's transition game, the Blues' offensive line, led by Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou, will do a lot of damage.

The Leafs have lost two of three coming out of the All-Star break – both to non-playoff teams – and with Morgan Rielly, the Leafs lead Simon Benoit – Jake McCabe / Timothy Liljegren – TJ Brody / William Lagesson – Mark. Giordano's defense team is in his absence tonight. It's time for the Leafs to pull up their socks and come up with the strongest version of their team effort this season.

Breaking news (6:30 p.m. EST): With John Tavares and Mitch Marner out tonight due to illness, trouble is brewing.

Game Day Quotes

Drew Bannister has been on a strong streak for the Blues since he took the bench (7-3-0):

Whether it was our power play or our penalty kill, it was very strong for us.

Our ability to score in important parts of the game gave us momentum and momentum was broken down into the period or the momentum coming out of the period. Those two things have been really strong for us in the first two games (on this trip).

Discipline will have to be a big part of our game tonight. We have to work off the puck and make sure we do a good job of forechecking off the puck.

Sheldon Keefe on his biggest challenge against St. Louis:

I would say their offense and transition. Their best guys are Thomas and Kyrou, and Kyrou is at the top of the league. He is very skilled and very dangerous. If you make a mistake or fall asleep a little, it will hurt you.

There are a lot of similarities to Ottawa, the type of game they play and the type of offense they can run against. Obviously, they have a lot of confidence and have been winning a lot of games lately. This is a dangerous group.

They have a lot of veterans on defense who know how to play and have some depth on offense as well as veteran experience and a lot of young talent.

They are right up there with the best offensive teams in the league.

Kef on the possibility of playing five power forwards in Rielly's absence:

We talked about it. This is still an option for us.

Honestly, that's typical of how St.Louis' penalty kill is and how we think we should play against them. They hurt the PKK a lot, so it's something to be aware of. Given some nuances in the area, we think it's better for the strikers to be in their natural positions.

McCabe is more like Rielly as the lefty of that group. It came down to a matter of craft for us. We debated Liljegren or McCabe, but for today's game and this opponent, we're going with the traditional approach.

Keefe on his relationship with Blues head coach Drew Bannister:

I was thrilled to see him get his chance. He followed me to Sault Ste. Marie. We talked quite a bit through that transition. He had a lot of success there, then moved on to the American League and made his own way.

The team is growing under him. She was excited for him.

Simon Benoit on the loss of Rielly:

He is a big part of our team. We cannot focus on that. We have a game to play tonight. The guys who take his place should do well. That's right.

He has no place of residence. Stay tuned for tonight's game. That's it.

Head-to-head stats: Maple Leafs vs. St. Louis Blues

In preseason stats, the Leafs have the advantage over the Blues in four of five offensive categories and three of five defensive categories.

The designed lines of the Toronto Maple Leafs

Forwards
#23 Matthew Knize vs. #34 Auston Matthews vs. #88 William Nylander
#59 Tyler Bertuzzi vs. #11 Max Domi vs. #89 Nick Robertson
#74 Bobby McMann vs. #64 David Kampf vs. #18 Noah Gregor
#46 Alex Steeves vs. #29 Pontus Holmberg vs. #75 Ryan Reeves

Defenders
#2 Simon Benoit vs. #22 Jake McCabe
#78 TJ Brodie vs. #37 Timothy Liljegren
#85 William Lagesson vs. #55 Mark Giordano

Goalkeepers
Starter: No. 35 Ilya Samsonov
#41 Dennis Hildeby

Temporarily suspended: Morgan Rielly
Injured/Out: John Tavares, Mitch Marner, Calle Jarnkrok, Joseph Wall, Conor Timmins, Martin Jones

Lines designed by the St. Louis Blues

Forwards
#89 Pavel Buchnevich – #18 Robert Thomas – #25 Jordan Kyrou
#53 Jake Neighbors – #10 Brayden Schenn – #42 Kasperi Kapanen
#20 Brandon Saad vs. #12 Kevin Hayes vs. #79 Sammy Blaze
#13 Alexey Toropchenko vs. #70 Oskar Sundqvist vs. #26 Nathan Walker

Defenders
#4 Nick Leddy vs. #55 Colton Parayko
#47 Torey Krug vs. #51 Matt Kessel
#6 Marco Scandella vs. #43 Calle Rosen

Goalkeepers
Starter: #50 Jordan Binnington
#30 Joel Hofer

Injured/Out: Justin Faulk, Scott Perunovich

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