The Toronto Maple Leafs will have a revamped lineup for their first meeting with the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Friday. Both clubs are well rested, as the Leafs have not played since a 4-3 loss to the Arizona Coyotes on Monday and the Rangers have not seen action since a 4-0 shutout of the Calgary Flames on Sunday.
The Rangers are tied for the top spot in the Metropolitan Division with the NY Islanders (6-2-2), but have not been getting their offense from usual suspects.
Wingers Rick Nash or Chris Kreider, who combined for 63 goals last season have just two goals through 10 games, while rookie Oscar Lindberg leads the club with five goals. Head coach Alain Vigneault is looking to spark Nash and will reunite the former top pick with center Derick Brassard and winger Mats Zuccarello.
The Leafs will have center Tyler Bozak and defenseman Jake Gardiner back from injury and will insert energetic forward Rich Clune in the lineup.
Bozak(who has been out since the Leafs lone victory in Columbus on October 16) skated on Friday morning between veteran wingers Daniel Winnik and Joffrey Lupul, while Gardiner(out since October 17)replaces injured rookie Scott Harrington(upper body, day-to-day) and was paired with team captain Dion Phaneuf.
The 28-year-old Clune was signed to an NHL contract and called up from the Toronto Marlies on Thursday, replacing forward Mark Arcobello who cleared waivers on Friday and was assigned to the Leafs AHL affiliate.
Center Nick Spaling missed the loss to Arizona with an undisclosed injury and was placed on injured reserve retroactive to October 24, while veteran Brad Boyes will be out of the lineup for the first time since signing with the Leafs off a professional tryout.
Leafs goaltender Jonathan Bernier (0-4-1) looks to earn his first victory of the season on Friday and makes his first start since allowing five goals on 27 shots in a 5-3 loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday.
The Rangers will go with Henrik Lundqvist(4-2-2), who has a sparkling 1.97 GAA and .941 save % this season, but traditionally has a tough time against the Blue and White (12-8-5 career record, 2.84 GAA, .900 save %).
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2015 Maple Leafs second round pick Jeremy Bracco had an auspicious beginning to his Ontario Hockey League career in his debut with the Kitchener Rangers in a 7-2 victory over Peterborough on Thursday.
The diminutive 18-year-old who chose to leave Boston College University earlier this week for the OHL set up Rangers leading scorer Ryan (son of Hall of Famer Al) MacInnis for a pair of goals.
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Listen to my Thursday interview with former Leafs assistant General Manager Bill Watters:
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