Wild vs Maple Leafs preview: Lineups, keys and storylines

Aaron Heckmann

Oct 14, 2023

Partner

155155Members·2.2K2,206Posts

Aaron Heckmann

Oct 14, 2023

Partner

The Minnesota Wild face another Eastern Conference juggernaut in the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena tonight after winning 2-0 in their home opener over last season's Stanley Cup runner up in the Florida Panthers Thursday.

Marcus Johansson will play tonight after exiting in the third period in the Wild's home opener against the Panthers. Filip Gustavsson will start again in goal for Minnesota after stopping all 41 shots he faced against Florida.

Storylines and keys

• The Wild will see a familiar face tonight on Toronto's side: a hard-hitting veteran winger in Ryan Reaves. The 36-year-old played 61 games last season with the Wild before testing the free agent market this summer, where he signed a three-year contract worth $1.35 million annually with Toronto. Reaves scored five goals and 15 points in Minnesota with five fights and 152 hits.

Reaves on facing the Wild via The Athletic's Michael Russo: “Sometimes when you’re better friends with them, you want to lay them out a little more," Reaves said. "Unfortunately for them, I became pretty good friends with all of them.”

• Wild rookie Brock Faber and Maple Leafs rookie Matthew Knies will play against each other for the first time. The two starred at the University of Minnesota for the Gophers last season, which ended with a loss to Quinnipiac in the national championship game. With the Gophers last season, Faber recorded 27 points in 38 games and was a plus-29, and Knies scored 21 goals and 42 points and was a plus-31 in 40 games.

“It’s going to be fun,” Knies told The Athletic of facing Faber. “I’m excited to see him. I saw him score his first goal — super pumped for him. I’m not too excited to play against him, because I think he’s a really good player and it’s going to be hard to play against him. But I’m just pumped to see him.”

• To beat the Maple Leafs, who had the seventh best (2.80 goals per 60) offense at five-on-five last season according to Natural Stat Trick, the Wild have to do it by stifling Toronto's stars in Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander and John Tavares. Minnesota can't depend on Gustavsson as much as they did against the Panthers in the home opener when playing offensive juggernauts. So playing tight defensively and keeping the Maple Leafs to the perimeter will be crucial tonight.

• While staying out of the box is a key to every game, it has to be emphasized when you're playing the Maple Leafs, who had the second best power play in the league last season at 82 percent behind the Edmonton Oilers at 32.4 percent. Toronto's power play is lethal with the firepower it has up front.