Leafs Gameday (October 22): Toronto Maple Leafs vs. New York Rangers Preview
The Toronto Maple Leafs have taken one of their few days off in a very active week, and return to Scotiabank Arena to take on one of the league’s most surprising hot starters in the New York Rangers. Here’s what you need to know ahead of puck drop:
Fast Facts
| Puck Drop | October 22nd @ 7:00 p.m. Scotiabank Arena, Toronto |
| Broadcast | TV: TSN 4 (Regional) Radio: TSN Radio 1050 Online: Sportsnet+ |
| Gameday Odds (Market Typical) | Maple Leafs -108, Rangers -112 Maple Leafs +1.5 -265, Rangers -1.5 +215 Goal Line 6.5 (Over -103, Under -117) |
About the Maple Leafs (5-4-2)
Toronto comes into tonight feeling good after a surprising 6-2 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday. Jack Roslovic was fantastic against his former team – Columbus traded him to the Rangers in 2024, so could we see that aura extend another night?
We also saw Toronto keep opponents to two or fewer in back-to-back games for the first time since last February, which is something they’ll want to keep going here, especailly given the X-factor on the other side.
About the New York Rangers (7-3-1)
A lot of people saw the Rangers as a diet version of what the Leafs were looking to accomplish – coming out of the weeds of a bottomed-out season, but still with a lot to work towards to become a threat. Suddenly, through seleven games, they find themselves tied for the third-most standings points in the league. What gives?
Incredibly, the biggest influence has been between the pipes, posting the fourth-best save percentage in the league at all situations. Most would feel that that’s impressive but absurd, given the team’s assembled tandem of Igor Shesterkin and Joonas Korpisalo, but those two have only played in a combined five of those games. Korpisalo has been injured since before opening night and Shesterkin, who came out swinging with five great appearances and even a goalie goal, is now out for the remainder of the season.
A nightmare scenario, except Dylan Garand has been saving the day since, posting a 0.929 SV% in seven appearances so far. Garand, 24, showed some promise in three great appearances last season, but the team didn’t have room for him going into this fall. In fact, they placed him on waivers at the start of the year. Fortuantely for them, he cleared, because he’s kept hope alive.
Beneath him, the Rangers have been decent offensively and struggled to control play, with shot metrics very similar to Toronto’s. All the more reason this matchup should be very interesting.
Projected Lineups
| Toronto Maple Leafs Lines | New York Rangers Lines |
|---|---|
| Easton Cowan – Auston Matthews – Jack Roslovic Kirill Marchenko – Nick Paul – William Nylander Gavin McKenna – Colton Sissons – Vinni Lettieri Brandon Duhaime – Teddy Blueger – Zack MacEwen Jake McCabe – Darren Raddysh Morgan Rielly – Troy Stecher Marshall Rifai – Oliver Ekman-Larsson | Gabriel Perreault – Mika Zibanejad – Alexis Lanfreniere Tye Kartye – J.T. Miller – Pavel Dorofeyev Will Cuylle – Noah Laba – Eeli Tolvanen Oliver Bjorkstrand – Justin Dowling – Taylor Raddysh Vladislav Gavrikov – Adam Fox Marcus Pettersson – Sean Durzi Alberts Smits – Braden Schneider |
| Starting Goalie: Sergei Bobrovsky 2-3-2, 2.96 GAA, 0.901 SV% Backing Up: Anthony Stolarz | Starting Goalie: Dylan Garand 4-2-1, 1.84 GAA, 0.92 SV% Backing Up: Spencer Martin |
Toronto’s lineup remains effectively unchanged from last game. The Rangers group is interesting – honestly, not one that really jumps out at you with high-end players other than Fox, but a lot of guys who can survive shifts and have shown flashes of brilliance in the past. I don’t think they’re anywhere near as much of a high-floor team as say, a Utah, but I can see why they might find ways to hang in games. Not a group to be scared of, but not one to take too lightly.
Last Matchup
The last game between these teams was in late March, and it was a dramatic one at that. The Maple Leafs came out strong with two first-period goals and took a 3-0 lead early in the third, but saw their advantage shrink to one after conceding a pair of poweprlay goals. John Tavares stepped in at just the right time in the third period, scoring an insurance tally just a minute before the Rangers scored their last goal of the night.
Toronto, unfortunately, cannot look to their point-getters from this game for much help in a rematch, as Jake McCabe’s opening goal was the only point from a Leaf in tonight’s lineup. To make matters more frustrating in that regad, all nine of the Rangers’ points came from players playing tonight.
Injuries Of Note
The Leafs are shockingly unchanged on the injury front. Jake McCabe’s face looks very worse for wear after getting high sticked on Tuesday, but he’s good to go despite that.
As mentioned above, Igor Shesterkin headlines the Rangers’ injury woes, out for the year with a knee injury. Joe Veleno is out for the next several months with a lower body injury, Joonas Korpisalo is week-to-week with a lower body injury, and Adam Sykora is month-to-month with a lower body injury. Tough times beneath the torso on Broadway, clearly.
Streaks Of Note
- The Maple Leafs have won seven of their last ten games against the Rangers, dating back to April 2023. Notably, they’ve won four of the last five, the lone eceptoin being a 6-2 loss back on March 5th.
- Auston Matthews is the most productive Leaf in just about every way over the last ten games, leading the team in goals (8), assists (10), points (18), and shots on goal (30). He even has the most blocked shots of any forward! What a guy.
- Easton Cowan is on a bit of a tear by his standards, with 4 goals and 5 assists in his last ten games.
- Jake McCabe is pointless in his last ten, though he leads the team in blocked shots in that stretch with 21. Oliver Ekman-Larsson has just one assist in that same stretch.
- On New York’s end, Alexis Lafreniere leads the team with seven goals and thirteen points in his last ten games. Pavel Dorofeyev leads the shot chart with 30 in his last ten, while Adam Fox has the most assists with nine.
Early Thoughts
This would be a great night for the Leafs depth players to finally start scoring. I’m going to keep saying this until it happens, but it’s especially true the game after an explosion on the top-end and against the league’s current “Goalie of Destiny” – they’ll need whatever help they can get.
A fun dormant scorer tonight might not even come from the forward group – Darren Raddysh gets to face his brother Taylor, so this would be a heck of a night to officially blast his first as a Leaf.
Either way, the Leafs would be best suited to make this a tough night on Garand and set the tone early. If they don’t, I could see this being a long one the other way, with the andrenaline of the back-to-back wins from earlier in the week wearing off.
