Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Washington Capitals – Game #2 Preview, Projected Lines & TV Info

After a disappointing performance on opening night in Montreal, Sheldon Keefe will return with the same lineup the Maple Leafs are expecting in their opener against the Washington Capitals (7:30 p.m. EST, TSN4) for a rebound.

Last night, the Leafs struggled more than expected against a Canadiens team that was able to take advantage of Toronto’s defense in transition. The game was tight thanks to some rush goals from the Nylander-Tavares-Malgin line and a record by Michael Bunting in the first period, but it was two turnovers by Justin Holl and Jake Muzzin in the last 30 seconds that ultimately sunk the game for Toronto. After the game, Sheldon Keefe didn’t mince his words that he expects a lot more from his team when it comes to the home game tonight.

Washington – currently without Tom Wilson, Nick Backstrom and Carl Hagelin through injury – also suffered a tough defeat on Wednesday night that saw them fall 5-2 to the Boston Bruins. The Capitals fell victim to a slow start as Boston scored twice in the opening frame and again early in the second period to take a 3-0 lead. The Capitals fought back into the game thanks to goals from Anthony Mantha and Conor Sheary before the Bruins sealed it with an insurance goal and an empty net in the third period.

Recent history in this matchup is promising for the Leafs, who scored many goals against the Capitals last season. In their first meeting on February 28, Toronto won 5-3 thanks to a late game winner from Rasmus Sandin. At the second meeting, the Leafs won 7-3 in the game in which Auston Matthews hit the 100-point milestone. In the final matchup, the Leafs won 4-3 in shootout after tying the game late to force overtime. Between last season’s results and the pandemic-hit 2020-21 schedule, the Capitals have not beaten the Leafs since Oct. 29, 2019, just before Mike Babcock was fired as head coach.

The matchup on the net will feature a money-on-the-board game for Ilya Samsonov, who will face off against the former team who chose not to qualify him last offseason, and Charlie Lindgren, who is only 28 A career in NHL games has names at the age of 28, which spanned stints in Montreal and St. Louis. Samsonov is hoping for a better team defense ahead of him than the support Matt Murray received in Montreal, but as far as the goaltender struggle goes, Murray left the door open last night if Samsonov were to make a regular statement in his Leafs. Season debut tonight.

The rest of the Leafs’ lineup will remain unchanged, according to Sheldon Keefe, who appears to be taking the approach, “We like the composition of the lines and last night’s poor performance didn’t give us a good read.” That apparently includes the Muzzin Holl Pairing who sadly carried over their 2021-22 form into the first game of 2022-23 last night.

Given the frustrated attitude of the Toronto market right now, it’s probably not the worst thing that the Leafs are right back at it less than 24 hours later after an ugly season-opener loss rather than sitting on it for a few days. The Leafs have been fairly reliable in producing good responses after overnight breaks last regular season. Tonight they will face an early test in that regard just outside the gates of the 2022-23 schedule.

With both teams looking to wipe the bitter taste out of their mouths after disappointing opening nights, the stage is set for an entertaining clash between the Leafs and Caps as the Scotiabank Arena hosts their first game of the season. Two of the best scorers in our lives taking center stage always creates plenty of intrigue and the Leafs should have plenty to offer their home fans.

Game day quotes

Sheldon Keefe on the message to the team after last night’s loss:

Much has been said.

Note if there will be changes in lines or pairings:

No changes. Only in our way of thinking and in our execution.

Keefe on the need for the team not to downplay their opponent:

It is really important. That’s a big part of why last night’s disappointment was there. The expectations of our team are higher. We want to show growth there. We couldn’t do that last night.

At the same time, let’s give Montreal respect and appreciation for how they played. They played fast. Their best players played when we gave them opportunities. Their goalkeeper was solid. They did the things they had to do to win.

We haven’t emphasized them nearly enough. We weren’t able to assert ourselves in the game as we wish and we can. We have to do that no matter who we play against or how you would interpret what the opponent is capable of.

We have to be able to assert ourselves. We’re a team of this caliber. We didn’t do it last night.

Keefe on whether the team played fast enough last night:

Sometimes we certainly played fast. Look, a lot of the problems we had with our game last night have nothing to do with effort. It’s an execution matter. You come from a good place. It’s all well intentioned. It’s all guys trying to make a difference. Our game selection and puck management were not at a level that would have given you a chance to win.

That’s really what I was talking about yesterday. It wasn’t so much about playing fast. There were certainly a few instances of that and we talked about that this morning, but it was more about pushing the issue at times when it wasn’t the right game.

We just have to get better at that. We now have a mature and experienced team here. We’ve been through a lot, so the expectations are high in that regard, whether it’s the first game of 82 or not. I expect that we will get better.

Mark Giordano on the need for a retrieval effort:

In our opinion, we haven’t played anywhere near the winning formula to win games. We are looking forward to today. Playing in a back to back is the best scenario for us just to get back on track and try to get a win tonight.

We’re much better at handling situations and the puck. We went through it and watched the tape. In the shifts, it’s pretty obvious when we’re succeeding and when we’re not. It’s a lot of different things, but the most important is managing time, points, and the puck.

Giordano on the team’s tendency to downplay the opposition:

I think we just need to get back to our game early in the games and realize that. It doesn’t matter who is on the other side of the rink. Every team in the league has players who can beat anyone. The depth of the teams in the league is incredible now. We have to establish our game.

If you get into trouble flip pucks and don’t manage time and points. We can do better. We just have to have a much better mindset when it comes to certain situations where we know you won’t be able to make games. At certain times in games where momentum swings are going to happen, you need to manage it a lot better than we did last night.

I think we have a really good team and it speaks to the fact that yesterday we were able to take this game into overtime when we felt like we weren’t nearly as good as we could be.

Capitals head coach Peter Laviolette on his team’s disappointing performance in the season opener:

There were some disconnects. Sometimes we were disjointed in the first half of the game. We wanted a puck to be there, but it wasn’t. We weren’t on track with the pass, or we weren’t on the right track with the positioning, or we were outnumbered in the fight—whatever it is.

We just didn’t click. We weren’t in sync. We were pretty good throughout the training camp and I just didn’t like the first half of the game – especially the first third.

Toronto Maple Leafs Projected Lines

Forward
#58 Michael Bunting – #34 Austin Matthews – #16 Mitch Marner
#88 William Nylander – #91 John Tavares – #62 Denis Malgin
#47 Pierre Engvall – #15 Alex Kerfoot – #19 Calle Järnkrok
#12 Zach Aston-Reese – #64 David Kampf – #96 Nicolas Aube-Kubel

defender
#44 Morgan Rielly – #78 TJ Brodie
#8 Jake Muzzin – #3 Justin Holl
#55 Mark Giordano – #38 Rasmus Sandin

goalkeeper
Starter: #35 Ilya Samsonov
#30 Matt Murray

Hurt: Timothy Liljegren