The Maple Leafs are in the enviable and unusual position of playing with house money, as they take on the New York Rangers in the second half of a home-and-home at Madison Square Garden Wednesday night.
With the 5-3 victory over the Rangers on Monday, the Leafs have opened up a six point lead on the Broadway Blueshirts and have guaranteed themselves at least a four point lead over New York with just eight games remaining in the regular season.
The Rangers are in a tight battle for an Eastern Conference playoff spot, as they trail Ottawa and the New York Islanders by two points and are tied with ninth place Winnipeg with 42 points. New York has one game in hand on the Islanders and two games in hand on the Jets, who won 4-1 decisions on Tuesday night over Philadelphia and Buffalo; all but ending both teams slim playoff hopes.
The Leafs are playing their best hockey of the season, with a 7-1-2 record in their last 10 games. Toronto appeared to be in control of the game on Monday, leading 3-1 entering the third, but goals from Rick Nash and Derek Stepan tied the game midway through the third, before Phil Kessel replied with his second of the game 39 seconds later to put his team in the lead for good.
James Reimer is expected to make his six consecutive start for Toronto after making 31 saves in the victory over New York on Monday. Reimer was the best player on the ice for the Leafs only previous visit to the Big Apple on January 26, making 37 saves in a 5-2 loss.
The 25 year old netminder has silenced many skeptics who believed that he was too inexperienced by posting an impressive 15-5-4 record, 2.54 GAA and .919 save percentage in 25 games.
The Leafs will have to do a better job at corralling Nash if they hope to have a chance to win in New York, as the Rangers winger muscled his way into scoring position for two goals on Monday and had a chance to tie the game in the waning seconds of regulation.
Toronto may make one change to the lineup that was victorious on Monday, as Ryan Hamilton skated on the fourth line at the morning skate at MSG.
Joe Colborne, Jake Gardiner, Matt Frattin and Mike Kostka are expected to be the scratches.
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Sportsnet’s
Chris Johnston reports that the Leafs have a difficult task in front of them over the summer with leading scorer Nazem Kadri’s entry level deal expiring.
The 22 year old Kadri is currently tied for 10th in league scoring with 40 points and will be looking for a significant pay increase and long term deal, but the fact that he will be among the league leaders in a compacted 48 game schedule may not give Leafs management enough of a sample size to feel comfortable signing him to a similar deal to likes of Evander Kane or Jeff Skinner.
Johnston says that contract talks will not take place until after the season, but it is clear from Kadri’s comments that he and his representatives will be looking for the security and stability of a long term deal.
Has Kadri’s performance in this shortened season convinced you that he is for real and should be locked up long term or do you believe he still has something to prove?
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