The Toronto Maple Leafs will look to follow up a pair of shutout performances in Edmonton with a good effort in the finale of the three-game series against the Oilers at Rogers Place on Wednesday and will have some help in the form of center Auston Matthews and goalie Frederik Andersen.
Matthews missed two games after injuring his wrist against Calgary on February 24, while Andersen missed four games since suffering a lower body injury against Montreal on February 20.
"They make us a better team, so that's nothing but positive, but just the fact that we've been through two games here and you know virtually everything has gone our way to this point." Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said. "We've got to continue to be focused and dialed in on all our details. We had another meeting this morning just looking to clean things up. We're not here getting comfortable with how we're playing or anything like that. We're continuing to work to get better as a team. There were a lot of things that we didn't like in the last game and we're expecting us to be better in those areas here today, no matter who's in the lineup."
The return of Matthews will see Alexander Barabanov sit and take his spot in between Joe Thornton and Mitch Marner, shifting John Tavares back to the second line between Alex Kerfoot and William Nylander. Keefe will keep the checking line of Ilya Mikheyev, Pierre Engvall and Zach Hyman intact, and have a fourth line of Jimmy Vesey, Travis Boyd and Jason Spezza.
Edmonton’s Alex Chiasson has been suspended for one game for Cross-checking Toronto’s Jimmy Vesey. https://t.co/EU3N6sbCo9
— NHL Player Safety (@NHLPlayerSafety) March 2, 2021
Edmonton will make at least one lineup change after forward Alex Chiasson was suspended for cross-checking Vesey after the final horn on Monday. Mike Smith is expected to return in goal after stopping all 13 shots in relief of Mikko Koskinen.
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