Toronto Maple Leafs Game Day #13: Winning streaks on the line in matchup with Kings

The Toronto Maple Leafs take a five-game winning streak into Monday’s home game against the Los Angeles Kings. The game wraps up a five-game homestand for Toronto.

As one might expect for a team that has won five in a row, there are not any changes anticipated in the Toronto lineup.

Toronto has a 7-4-1 record and 15 points is good enough for second place in the Atlantic Division.

After an early season slump, the Maple Leafs have turned their fortunes around, in large part because their top players have been performing. The last 13 goals have been scored by the core four forwards. Now that Mitch Marner, John Tavares, Auston Matthews, and William Nylander are clicking, positive results have followed for Toronto.

Mitch Marner and John Tavares are now tied for the Maple Leafs lead in scoring with 12 points.

Jack Campbell will get the start in goal for the Maple Leafs, his first opportunity to play against the Kings. He was traded from Los Angeles to Toronto in February 2020, along with Kyle Clifford, in a deal that sent Trevor Moore to Los Angeles.

Campbell has handled a heavy workload for the Maple Leafs and has a .936 save percentage in 10 games. With Petr Mrazek going on LTIR, Campbell is likely going to face a lot of action for the Maple Leafs over the next month.

The Toronto Maple Leafs’ expected lines for Game #13 vs. Los Angeles:

FORWARD LINES

Bunting – Matthews – Nylander

Kerfoot – Tavares – Marner

Engvall – Kampf – Kase

Ritchie – Spezza – Simmonds

DEFENCE

Rielly – Dermott

Muzzin – Brodie

Sandin – Liljegren

GOALTENDERS

Campbell

Woll

Los Angeles Kings

The Los Angeles Kings have won four in a row, to even their record at 5-5-1. The past two wins have come beyond 60 minutes. The Kings downed the New Jersey Devils 3-2 in overtime Friday after a 3-2 shootout victory against the St. Louis Blues Wednesday.

The Kings are dealing with some injuries. Defenceman Drew Doughty is out for a couple of months with a knee injury, and defenceman Sean Walker is out for the season due to a knee injury. Forwards Gabriel Vilardi and Viktor Arvidsson are out due to Covid-19 protocols. This is certainly not the first time that the Maple Leafs have run into a team missing some key personnel.

Former Maple Leafs winger Trevor Moore has been a regular in Los Angeles lineup since getting traded there in February 2020. While Moore had a career-high 23 points in 56 games last season, he has yet to record a point in 11 games this season.

Anze Kopitar 14 points (7 G, 7 A) and Alex Iafallo 10 points (5 G, 5 A) lead the Kings attack.

Jonathan Quick will get the start in goal for the Kings. The 35-year-old has a .915 save percentage through six starts.

The expected lines for the Los Angeles Kings on Monday:

FORWARD LINES

Kempe – Kopitar – Brown

Athanasiou – Danault – Iafallo

Grundstrom – Kupari – Moore

Lemieux – Lizotte – Kaliyev

DEFENCE

Edler – Clague

Maatta – Roy

Bjornfot – Anderson

GOALTENDERS

Quick

Petersen

Watch on Sportsnet and listen on Sportsnet 590 The Fan in Toronto.

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