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The Toronto Maple Leafs host the New York Rangers on Saturday at 7 p.m. ET. The Maple Leafs are coming off a 6-2 home win over the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday. Ahead of this massive game against the Rangers, here is what their projected lineup is expected to look like.
Predicted Maple Leafs lineup
Forwards
- Matthew Knies - Auston Matthews - Mitch Marner
- Bobby McMann - Max Domi - Williams Nylander
- Pontus Holmberg - John Tavares - Max Pacioretty
- Steven Lorentz - David Kampf - Ryan Reaves
Max Pacioretty should be back in the lineup on Saturday after being a healthy scratch on Wednesday. In his place, Nick Robertson should be scratched.
Defenseman
- Morgan Rielly - Chris Tanev
- Oliver Ekman-Larsson - Jake McCabe
- Simon Benoit - Timothy Liljegren
Trending
The Maple Leafs defensive unit has been solid this season, and Timothy Liljegren should get another game after making his season debut on Wednesday.
Goalies
- Anthony Stolarz
- Dennis Hildeby
With Joseph Woll hurt, Anthony Stolarz has taken over as the starting goalie and has been solid. Stolarz is 2-1 with a 1.70 GAA and a .940 SV%.
"Body language is big and composure is huge. I thought Stolie had great composure tonight in net," Leafs coach Craig Berube said, via Hockey News. "They (the Kings) shoot a lot of pucks from up top, and they got traffic all the time, but he was really poised in the net tonight."
Maple Leafs vs. Rangers preview
Toronto and New York are two of the best teams in the Eastern Conference, so this will be a highly anticipated matchup.
Toronto's offense clicked well against Los Angeles, but the Maple Leafs now go up against a harder Rangers team that features Igor Shesterkin, who is one of the best goalies in the NHL.
Anthony Stolarz will need to be on his A-game if Toronto is going to pull off a win here. But the Rangers should be able to go into Toronto and get a win on the road to prove to everyone they are legit Stanley Cup contenders.
Maple Leafs October NHL schedule
Toronto's remaining schedule for the first month of the season is as follows:
- 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
