Starting off the new year with two wins in a row, the Toronto Maple Leafs look to stay in the win column as they welcome the Detroit Red Wings to town for an original six match-up on Saturday night.
This is the only meeting between the two teams this season. In last season's lone game, Detroit picked up a 4-2 victory on home ice at Joe Louis Arena. Saturday's game marks the 644th meeting between the original six rivals, with the each team even at 275 wins each and 93 ties between them.
Toronto comes into the game having posted two-straight wins, most recently shutting out the Winnipeg Jets by a score of 4-0 on Thursday. It was a solid team effort as Jonas Gustavsson stopped 24 shots to pick up a shutout and first star of the game honours, while Mikhail Grabovski had a goal and an assist and was named second star.
There was a scary moment in the win over Winnipeg, in which captain Dion Phaneuf took a puck to the face with less than four minutes left to play in regulation. The upcoming All-Star game starting defenceman left the game and missed practice on Friday but did take part in the Leafs' morning skate on Saturday while wearing a full face shield and will play against Detroit.
Saturday night will also mark the return of the Mikes as both Mike Brown and Mike Komisarek will make their way back into the Toronto lineup. Brown has been out of the lineup since Nov. 17, missing 22 games after undergoing surgery to repair a pinched nerve in his back. The gritty forward is expected to play on the fourth line with Darryl Boyce and David Stecel.
Komisarek makes his return after missing 21 games with a broken arm. The 29-year old defenceman suffered the injury in a game against the Nashville Predators on Nov. 19. In 18 games played before the injury, Komisarek had a goal and three assists. In order to make room for Komisarek's return to the lineup, it is likely that Jake Gardiner sits out as a healthy scratch.
Before Gustavsson picked up a shutout on Thursday, Ron Wilson promised that if a goaltender got hot, he would stick with him. Which is why, not surprisingly, the Monster gets the start in net against Detroit.
Gustavsson's shutout against the Jets was the second of his career. The first came 65 appearances earlier in his rookie season on Dec. 19, 2009, in a 2-0 blanking of the Boston Bruins. The Monster has won two-straight coming into Saturday's game, and in his lone previous start against the Red Wings which came in his rookie season on Nov. 7, Gustavsson stopped 35 shots to help lead the Leafs to a 5-1 win on home ice.
Toronto Maple Leafs Projected Lines
Forwards
Joffrey Lupul - Tim Connolly - Phil Kessel
Joey Crabb - Mikhail Grabovski - Nikolai Kulemin
Clarke MacArthur - Matthew Lombardi - Nazem Kadri
Darryl Boyce - David Steckel - Mike Brown
Defence
Keith Aulie - Dion Phaneuf
Carl Gunnarsson - Luke Schenn
Cody Franson - Mike Komisarek
Goalies
Jonas Gustavsson
James Reimer
The Detroit Red Wings come into the Air Canada Centre having won two-straight and four of their last five, most recently edging the Dallas Stars 5-4 on Tuesday night.
While the Wings sit second in the Central Division and fourth in the Western Conference with 51 points, a large reason for their success has been their play at home, posting a 15-2-1 record in Motown. Wins have not been as easy to come by on the road for the Red Wings, sporting a sub-.500 record of 10-11-0 when playing the role of the visitor.
At home, Detroit has outscored the opposition 73-32, while on the road they've been outscored 56-54.
One area where Detroit has been strong at regardless of where they are playing is on the power play. The Red Wings' play on the man advantage ranks sixth in the league with a success rate of 19.5 percent, just under two points back of Toronto's third-ranked power play.
While a team coming into a game with a strong power play could be a concern for Toronto's much-maligned penalty kill this season, the Leafs have shown some improvement on the PK early on in 2012. Through two games, Toronto is a perfect 6-for-6 when killing off a penalty in this calendar year.
In the Wings' 5-4 win over Dallas on Tuesday, Jiri Hudler scored twice and now has three goals in his last two games. Valtteri Filppula registered a goal and two assists and comes into Saturday's game on a bit of a hot streak, with seven points (3G, 4A) in his last five games.
Jimmy Howard gets the start in net as he goes for his league-leading 25th win of the season. The next closest goaltender in wins is Nashville's Pekka Rinne, who has 19 victories this season.
The 27-year old Howard is also looking to collect the 100th win of his career on Saturday. With 24 wins through 34 appearances, Howard is on pace for 50 wins this season. That would break the Wings' single-season record for most wins, set by Terry Sawchuk, who earned 44 wins in back-to-back seasons in the early 1950's. It would also break Martin Brodeur's league record for most single-season wins, when he picked up 48 victories during the 2006-07 season.
In his lone career start against Toronto, Howard stopped 15 shots on Mar. 26 of last season before having to leave the game in the third period when Joffrey Lupul fell on him in the crease.
Detroit Red Wings Projected Lines -Subject to change.
Forwards
Johan Franzen - Pavel Datsyuk - Todd Bertuzzi
Valtteri Filppula - Henrik Zetterberg - Jiri Hudler
Dan Cleary - Justin Abdelkader - Drew Miller
Gustav Nyquist - Cory Emmerton - Joakim Andersson
Defence
Nicklas Lidstrom - Ian White
Niklas Kronwall - Brad Stuart
Jonathan Ericsson - Mike Commodore
Goalies
Jimmy Howard
Ty Conklin
Red Wings vs. Leafs gets underway at 7PM ET. The game will be broadcast on CBC's Hockey Night in Canada and AM640.
For up-to-the-minute Leafs news and updates, be sure to follow Ken Beckett on Twitter @KenBeckett
KINDLE USERS: Please sign up for Maple Leafs Buzz. For more information
click here.
Toronto Maple Leafs Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»