The Toronto Maple Leafs play their first of nine back to back games on the 2013 schedule tonight as they face the New York Islanders(1-1-0) at the ACC.
Toronto was solid defensively and opportunistic offensively in their 5-2 victory over the Penguins at the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh last night, as James van Riemsdyk netted his first two goals in Blue and White, with Clarke MacArthur, Mikhail Grabovski and Tyler Bozak also scored and Nikolai Kulemin registered three assists.
James Reimer, who made his first start in 10 months, made 28 saves in the victory, which improved Toronto’s record to 2-1-0.
The pleasure of the victory was overshadowed by the news that All Star winger Joffrey Lupul suffered a broken forearm after taking a Dion Phaneuf slapshot off of his right arm in the second period of the game.
Coach Randy Carlyle indicated this morning that the injury is expected to keep Lupul out for a minimum of six weeks. The club has placed the winger on the injured reserve list and has recalled winger Matt Frattin from the AHL Toronto Marlies.
Frattin was one of the final cuts of the abbreviated training camp and was just sent down to the AHL on January 18th. He scored the shootout winner in a 3-1 victory over the Hamilton Bulldogs last Saturday.
Although Carlyle did not indicate how the line combinations would be affected by the Lupul injury, it is likely that the combination of van Riemsdyk, Grabovski and Kulemin will remain intact, while Clarke MacArthur will take Lupul’s place alongside Tyler Bozak and Phil Kessel.
Frattin started the AHL season on a torrid scoring pace after returning from off season knee surgery, with seven goals in his first six games, but tailed off noticeably as the season progressed and did not stand out during training camp. It is likely that he would be placed with Nazem Kadri and Leo Komarov, both who he played with at times with the Marlies.
The health status of defenseman Mike Komisarek, who leads Toronto with a +3 plus/minus rating, is unknown for tonight’s game after leaving the game in the third period with an apparent shoulder injury after taking a hard check from Pittsburgh’s Chris Kunitz.
Ben Scrivens is expected to make the start for Toronto.
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