The Toronto Maple Leafs play the New Jersey Devils on Thursday in what will be the team's second leg of back-to-back road games to start the season. The puck drop is set for 7 p.m. EDT.
Toronto is coming off a 1-0 shutout loss to Montreal on Wednesday in its season opener. Ahead of the Leafs' second game, here is their projected lineup.
Predicted Maple Leafs lineup
Forwards
- Matthew Knies - Auston Matthews - Mitch Marner
- Max Domi - John Tavares - William Nylander
- Max Pacioretty - Pontus Holmberg - Nick Robertson
- Steven Lorentz - David Kampf - Ryan Reaves
Despite not scoring a goal on Wednesday, Toronto will likely run back the exact lineup. This is what the Maple Leafs' lineup should be going forward, as Bobby McMann is the odd-man-out.
“You almost get 50 shots on net and you don’t get a goal — their goalie played well,” coach Craig Berube said after the game, via TSN.
Defenseman
- Morgan Reilly - Chris Tanev
- Oliver Ekman-Larsson - Jake McCabe
- Simon Benoit - Conor Timmins
Toronto played excellent defensively against Montreal, so there is no reason for a change, despite being on a back-to-back.
The Maple Leafs killed off a couple of 5-on-3s and the blue line was a bright spot in the season-opening loss.
Goalies
- Anthony Stolarz
- Dennis Hildeby
Joseph Woll suffered an injury before Game 1 and was placed on IR. Stolarz started the first game of the season and was phenomenal. Usually, goalies don't play back-to-back games but Berube hinted at Stolarz starting both games.
"It's something we've got to discuss here," Berube told TSN's Mark Masters.
In the loss, Stolarz allowed one goal on 27 shots.
Maple Leafs October NHL schedule
Toronto's schedule for the first month of the season is as follows:
- @ New Jersey, Oct. 10
- vs Pittsburgh, Oct. 12
- vs Los Angeles, Oct. 16
- vs Rangers, Oct. 19
- vs Tampa Bay, Oct. 21
- @ Columbus, Oct. 22
- vs St. Louis, Oct. 24
- @ Boston, Oct. 26
- @ Winnipeg, Oct. 28
- vs Seattle, Oct. 31