The Chicago Blackhawks are going to take on the Toronto Maple Leafs. This is their chance to bounce back after a bad game against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
The Chicago Blackhawks have a quick turnaround. After a tough loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday afternoon, things don’t get any easier as they are paying a visit to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Of course, Toronto is one of the best teams in the Atlantic Division. At 14-7-2, the Leafs are one point behind the Florida Panthers for the top spot (and they’ve played two fewer games).
What is it that makes the Leafs so good? Well, the “core four” has a lot to do with it. Auston Matthews, William Nylander, Mitch Marner, and John Tavares have been catalysts for a long time in Toronto.
Matthews just returned from an injury issue that he was dealing with. Now he’s ready to get back to scoring goals at a high rate. Chicago doesn’t want to be the team that Matthews breaks the barrier against but he is going to try.
Auston Matthews is very clearly the best of the four. Whoever is the second most impactful Maple Leaf forward can change game by game. Nylander, Marner, and Tavares are all incredible players.
Maple Leafs Projected Lines
Knies - Matthews - W. Nylander
Holmberg - Tavares - Marner
Robertson - Minten - Lorentz
Grebenkin - Dewar - A. Nylander
Rielly - Ekman-Larson
McCabe - Tanev
Benoit - Timmins
Stolarz
Woll
From top to bottom, there is a lot of skill in this group and it doesn’t end with the core four. If the Hawks allow the Maple Leafs to run the show and dictate play the way they let Columbus, the game might be equally as ugly.
Joseph Woll started for the Leafs on Saturday against the Tampa Bay Lightning and beat them. Now, Anthony Stolarz should see the net against the Hawks.
Blackhawks Projected Lines:
Hall-Bedard-Kurashev
Bertuzzi-Donato-Teravainen
Foligno-Dickinson-Mikheyev
Maroon-Reichel-Smith
Vlasic-Murphy
Kaiser-Martinez
Brodie-Crevier
Söderblom
Mrazek
The good news for Chicago is that Connor Bedard is skating well again. In the last few games, his line with Taylor Hall and Philipp Kurashev has looked like a legit top-six NHL line which has been missing a lot this season.
Bedard will get a lot of media attention in Toronto as he fits in with the stars there. It will be interesting to see how he handles it now that he’s back to his scoring ways.
Jason Dickinson’s line will be out there against Auston Matthews as often as Luke Richardson can. It will be harder to own matchups on the road but they will certainly try.
There is no sugarcoating the fact that this is going to be a tough matchup for the Hawks. They have played up to their competition so far this season but they can’t get in a track meet with the Leafs. It will end badly if they do as it did on Sunday.
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