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The Toronto Maple Leafs will look to continue compiling points in the contentious Atlantic Division with a head-to-head match with the two-time Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning at Scotiabank Arena on Thursday. The Leafs following their 5-4 win over Columbus earlier in the week are tied with the Florida Panthers and two points up on the Lightning, but have played two more games than their rivals from the Sunshine state.
Tampa has been able to win consistently (16-5-1 overall, 7-2-1 in their last 10 games), without Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point, but Lightning head coach John Cooper indicated that his club may also be without forward Anthony Cirelli.
Toronto will play their second game without Jason Spezza (suspended six games by the NHL on Tuesday for a hit on Winnipeg’s Neil Pionk), but the veteran forward was on the ice for the morning skate after appealing the suspension in hopes of getting the number of games reduced.
The Leafs will go with the same lineup that dressed in the win over the Blue Jackets, including rookies Alex Steeves and Kristians Rubins. One aspect of the slew of injuries that includes Mitch Marner, Petr Mrazek, Ilya Mikheyev, Rasmus Sandin and Travis Dermott is that it gives head coach Sheldon Keefe an opportunity to evaluate the club’s depth after losing players like Adam Brooks, Michael Amadio and Kirill Semyonov on waivers or returning to Europe.
#Leafs holding morning skate after a day off. No Travis Dermott on the ice, but Jason Spezza (who is appealing his six game suspension) is. pic.twitter.com/PDDhvHkK2a
— Michael Augello (@MikeInBuffalo) December 9, 2021
The Leafs pulled off a minor deal on Thursday, swapping forward Kurtis Gabriel to the Chicago Blackhawks for minor league defenseman Chad Krys.
The 23-year-old Krys played with Auston Matthews with Team USA at the 2016 IIHF World Championships and has recorded 15 points in 64 American Hockey League games with the Rockford Icehogs, *******
Lot’s of â¤ï¸ for the 💙ðŸ¤
— Norman James (@IamNormanJames) April 26, 2021
Convo on Podcast.#theleafsconvo https://t.co/Xdn3CDLVCI