Update - Per Chris Johnston of Sportsnet, defenseman John-Michael Liles was a late scratch and rookie Morgan Rielly makes the start after sitting three straight games.
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The Toronto Maple Leafs embark on a difficult string of three games in four nights against top echelon Western Conference clubs starting with a match against the red-hot Los Angeles Kings at Air Canada Center on Wednesday.
The Kings haven’t skipped a beat without the services of former Conn Smythe Trophy winner Jonathan Quick, as they have gone 9-1-3 with former Leaf Ben Scrivens and rookie Martin Jones between the pipes. Los Angeles continued their winning ways with a 6-0 shutout of the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre on Tuesday.
“The LA hockey club is a big, strong cycling team. They don’t give you much and anything you get, you have to earn.” head coach Randy Carlyle said Wednesday morning. Carlyle also extolled the virtues of the Kings center corps of Anze Kopitar, Mike Richards and Jarret Stoll. “I don’t know if anyone has three centers of that caliber.”
Indications from the morning skate are that Scrivens, is who leads the NHL with a .943 save percentage and is second only to Minnesota’s Josh Harding with a 1.53 GAA, will not get the start in the second of back-to-back games against his former club. Kings coach Darryl Sutter will go once again with Jones, who is a perfect 3-0 since being called up on November 13 and has posted consecutive shutouts in his last two starts against the NY Islanders and Montreal.
Winger Matt Frattin, who was sent along with Scrivens to Los Angeles last June in exchange for Jonathan Bernier, will be a healthy scratch according to Leafs TV’s Paul Hendrick. The 25-year-old forward has only two goals and four assists in 25 games for the Kings, is worst on the club with a -7 plus/minus and has been scratched five of the eight games.
Bernier stopped 34 shots in a 5-2 loss to Boston on Sunday and will get his second straight start against the club that selected him 11th overall in 2006, which likely means that James Reimer will be in goal tomorrow night in St. Louis.
Leafs captain Dion Phaneuf will serve the first of a two-game suspension for his hit on Boston's Kevan Miller last Sunday, leaving the Maple Leafs struggling defense corps without their top defender. Carlyle is expected to go with his six most experienced blueliners against the Kings, which means that rookie Morgan Rielly will sit in the press box for the fourth consecutive game.
“The young defensemen in the league have to find that comfort zone.” Carlyle said of Rielly and teammate Jake Gardiner. “They’re not chasing the game, they’re not chasing the pace of the game, that their settled down and they’re doing the things that they’re capable of doing and doing them on a regular basis.”
Toronto will have winger Joffrey Lupul back in the lineup after missing two weeks with a Grade 2 groin strain. Carlyle will play Lupul with center Peter Holland and winger Nikolai Kulemin in the hopes of generating a consistent source of secondary offense.
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More regarding the ongoing Phaneuf contract situation. CBC’s Elliotte Friedman indicates that there will be a meeting this week between the Leafs and representatives from Newport Sports. There has been little reported on the two sides making progress towards agreeing on a new deal and speculation has picked up that the club is moving in the direction of shopping the pending unrestricted free agent before the March 5th trade deadline if they continue their current subpar play and cannot get Phaneuf to agree to a shorter term deal.
According to Sportsnet’s Nick Kypreos, the Leafs have offered the dollar amount that Phaneuf’s representatives are looking for, but for a term less than the reported seven year, $50 Million extension they have set as a negotiating starting point. To this point, those offers have been turned down.
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