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The Toronto Maple Leafs hope to continue their winning ways on home ice, as they take on the two-time Stanley Cup winning Tampa Bay Lightning at Scotiabank Arena on Thursday.
The Leafs won their third in a row against the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday, thanks mostly to their revitalized core group finding the net. In their wins over Chicago, Detroit and Vegas, forwards Auston Matthews, John Tavares, Mitch Marner and William Nylander have combined for two-thirds of the club’s goal scoring and 16 points.
The Lightning are tied with Toronto for second place in the Atlantic Division and without key players from their Cup winning squad (Yanni Gourde, Tyler Johnson, Blake Coleman, Barclay Goodrow and the injured Nikita Kucherov) have been as streaky as the Leafs, losing three games in a row prior to winning three straight over Pittsburgh, Arizona and Washington.
Jack Campbell will make his second straight start after a 26-save shutout on Tuesday and Andrei Vasilevskiy will be in goal for Tampa.
Toronto recalled defenseman Kristians Rubins from the AHL Marlies on Thursday because of the questionable status of blueliner Travis Dermott. Dermott played just one shift in the second period and just under 14 minutes on Saturday and took to the ice for the morning skate, but head coach Sheldon Keefe said that it his uncertain status prompted the recall.
Very nice passing play as Kristians Rubins scores for Latvia in Olympic Qualification pic.twitter.com/9nqi5lqfWE
— Kyle Cushman (@Kyle_Cush) August 26, 2021
"Dermott is going to be game time decision, so that would be the the only potential (lineup) change depending on how he gets to the remainder of the day, but he skated this morning, which is obviously a positive sign compared to where he was yesterday." Keefe said. “(The move of Rubins) is an insurance call up, but he's a guy we brought up for reasons. He's played very well down there with the Marlies, he had a great camp with us, we like him a lot, so it's a good chance to just get him here to spend the day.…
The big 23-year-old blueliner may not get in the lineup this time around, but Keefe spoke glowingly about Rubins size, skill set and evolution as a pro in four years with the Leafs organization and it is clear that the Leafs believe that he is on track to be an NHL contributor in the near future. *******
Lot’s of â¤ï¸ for the 💙ðŸ¤
— Norman James (@IamNormanJames) April 26, 2021
Convo on Podcast.#theleafsconvo https://t.co/Xdn3CDLVCI
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