An Original Six matchup awaits the Blackhawks north of the border, with the Toronto Maple Leafs hosting the Blackhawks for a Monday evening matchup.
It is the tail end of a back-to-back for the Blackhawks after losing 6-3 to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday, but that game being in the afternoon at least allowed Chicago ample time to get on a plane to Toronto for a decent night of rest ahead of this game. And they’ll need it, as Toronto enters this game with victories in eight of its last 10, including a 5-3 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday. The Maple Leafs are a little more stout defensively this season under new coach Craig Berube, currently tied for third-best in the league at 2.61 goals against per game. That’s well ahead of the 3.21 mark from last season that was ranked 19th. Anthony Stolarz (7-4-2 record, .921 save percentage, 2.33 goals-against average) has been better as the starter than Ilya Samsonov (23-7-8, .890, 3.13) was last season while Joseph Woll (6-2-0, .923, 2.13) has been solid again in more of a backup role. That collective effort has Toronto sitting in second place in the Atlantic Division and fifth in the Eastern Conference overall, well within striking distance of the teams above them.
The names atop the scoring categories are all the ones you know. Mitch Marner has a team-high 31 points and 22 assists. William Nylander leads with 15 goals and is second with 25 points. John Tavaries is third in goals (10) and points (21). Auston Matthews and his annoying “o” missed a handful of games with injuries but is still just behind a point-per-game pace at 13 (5 G, 8 A) in 13. The ice-itime leader among blue-liners is old friend Jake McCabe, who’s clocking in at 21:20, just ahead of Morgan Rielly’s 21:18.
McCabe won’t be in the lineup for this game, though, being held at as a precautionary measure with an upper-body injury. Another former Blackhawk is on the shelf as well in Max Domi. But a third former Blackhawk, Alex Nylander, will skate on the Toronto blue line in this game:
#Leafs lines during morning skate Dec. 2/24
— David Alter (@dalter) December 2, 2024
Knies-Matthews-W.Nylander
Holmberg-Tavares-Marner
Robertson-Minten-Lorentz
Grebenikin-Dewar-A.Nylander
Extra: Reaves (suspended)
Injured: Domi, Pacioretty
Rielly-Myers
OEL-Tanev
Benoit-Timmins
Rifai
Stolarz (projected starter)
Woll…
It’s a rather potent Toronto lineup for this game on one end and a stingier defensive side at the other, which is going to make for a rather hefty challenge for a Blackhawks team that’s lost eight of their last 11 games. With no morning skate, the lineups are anyone’s guess, with one known quantity in net, where Arvid Soderblom will handle responsibilities after Petr Mrazek played on Sunday. In two prior starts against Toronto, Soderblom is 2-0 with a .945 save percentage and 1.93 goals-against average. Given everything detailed above, it may take a similarly Herculean effort to give the Blackhawks a shot in this game.
Here’s the lineup from Sunday against CBJ, as a reminder:
Third straight game for the Blackhawks with the same lines — unbelievable! Hall-Bedard-Kurashev Bertuzzi-Donato-Teravainen Foligno-Dickinson-Mikheyev Maroon-Reichel-Smith Vlasic-Murphy Kaiser-Martinez Brodie-Crevier Mrazek
— Ben Pope (@benpopecst.bsky.social) December 1, 2024 at 1:36 PM
Let’s go Hawks.
Tale of the Tape
Blackhawks — Statistic — Maple Leafs
43.70% (32nd) — 5-on-5 Corsi For — 48.65% (22nd)
44.12% (30th) — 5-on-5 Expected goals for — 51.74% (13th)
2.5 (29th) — Goals per game — 3.04 (t-15th)
3.08 (t-17th) — Goals against per game — 2.61 (t-3rd)
44.5% (30th) — Faceoffs — 53.9% (t-2nd)
25.0% (8th) — Power play — 20.0% (17th)
79.7% (17th) — Penalty kill — 81.5% (8th)
How to Watch
When: 6:30 p.m. CT
Where: Scotiabank Arena, Chicago
TV: CHSN (How to Watch) Good luck finding it!
Webstream: ESPN+
Radio: WGN 720