Tonight October 24, 11 on Leafs TV at 7pm the boys in blue will be taking on the Broad Street bullies in the first of three meetings on the season. Actually, the next time the Flyers and Leafs face one another will be on February 9, 12. Tonight’s meeting is also the regular season debut of the Schenn v Schenn clash as Leafs defenseman Luke Schenn takes on little brother Brayden Schenn.
Entering tonight’s action, Toronto finds themselves in a familiar situation to last weeks clash with divisional rival the Boston Bruins. That is to say, the Leafs will be taking on one of the top teams in the NHL, and a win could go along way at showing fans that they are ready to contend with the big boys of the Eastern Conference. At the same time, tonight’s game also features Toronto taking on a powerhouse that has lost its last two games. We’ll find out if Toronto has learnt anything from last Thursday’s defeat to the Boston Bruins.
One area of concern for the Leafs an in particular their fans, is that tonight’s game will be the third appearance for backup goalie Jonas Gustavsson. The heavily criticized Swede has become a whipping boy of sorts after disheartening performances first in the aforementioned game with Boston and then in relief of top goalie James Reimer on Saturday in Montreal. Tonight’s start will be make or break for Gustavsson as a slew of media outlets are speculating that if he can’t show some consistency and win a few games, the Leafs may be forced to look at other options.
On the other hand, the Leafs coaching staff seems to have learnt something from Boston, as Ron Wilson and his assistant coaches have elected to go with the same lineup as Saturday night in Montreal. For those of you that missed that game, Toronto came out flying and was seemingly able to roll four lines the entire night. The fourth line of Mike Brown Philippe Dupuis and Jay Rosehill in particular were able to play defensively responsible in their own zone. As well Rosehill and Brown were each able to play around eight minutes, which is something the Leafs coaching staff has needed from their fourth line.
Looking at the standings, the season may be early, but if the Toronto Maple Leafs want to continue their push to the playoffs, they will have to come out with a win against Philadelphia tonight. As we noted earlier, the Flyers are coming off back-to-back losses, but Toronto would be best served adding to the misery rather then allowing the Flyers any opportunity to win. Toronto currently has 11 points, while Philadelphia has nine points. The Leafs special teams and defense will have to show up tonight, as despite the Buds being in third place in the Eastern Conference, they have given up 23 goals and scored only 24 this season.
Tune in to Leafs TV for the game at 7pm, before tuning into the best Damn POST GAME SHOW Online at Leafs Talk Radio.
Written by: Eric Freedlander (@three_2_lose)
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