Maple Leafs Game Day #30: Leafs visit slumping Edmonton Oilers

The Toronto Maple Leafs held on for a 5-4 win against the Chicago Blackhawks Saturday and head to Western Canada with 17 wins in the past 22 games. Tuesday they take on the Edmonton Oilers.

There are changes up front for Toronto. Left winger Nick Ritchie is out due to illness and Alex Steeves is a healthy scratch.

Ilya Mikheyev will play his first game of the season for the Maple Leafs after breaking his thumb in the final preseason game.

Brett Seney will make his Maple Leafs debut and centre the fourth line.

On defence, Travis Dermott will return to the lineup in place of rookie Kristians Rubins, who has appeared in three games.

The Maple Leafs are 19-8-2, tied with the Panthers for the lead in the Atlantic Division with 40 points, though Toronto has played two more games than Florida.

Auston Matthews leads the Maple Leafs with 18 goals and 31 points in 26 games.

Here is the expected lineup for the Maple Leafs at Edmonton:

FORWARD LINES

Bunting – Matthews – Kase

Kerfoot – Tavares – Nylander

Engvall – Kampf – Mikheyev

Clifford – Seney – Simmonds

DEFENCE

Rielly – Brodie

Muzzin – Liljegren

Dermott – Holl

GOALTENDERS

Campbell

Mrazek

Edmonton Oilers

The Edmonton Oilers have lost five straight games, scoring a total of eight goals in those five losses. The Oilers’ lack of forward depth is haunting them right now as they have just four players – Leon Draisaitl, Connor McDavid, Zach Hyman, and Jesse Puljujarvi – with more than five goals. By comparison, Toronto is not an especially deep team, and the Maple Leafs have seven players with more than five goals.

With 32 points in 26 games, the Oilers are in third place in the Pacific Division. They were in much more comfortable position before this five-game slide.

Leon Draisaitl leads the Oilers with 23 goals in 26 games. Draisaitl and Connor McDavid are tied for the team and league lead with 45 points.

Here are expected lines for the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday:

FORWARD LINES

Draisaitl – McDavid – Kassian

Foegele – Nugent-Hopkins – Puljujarvi

Benson – Turris – Yamamoto

Shore – Ryan – Sceviour

DEFENCE

Nurse – Bouchard

Keith – Ceci

Niemelainen – Barrie

GOALTENDERS

Koskinen

Skinner

Watch on TSN and listen on TSN 1050 in Toronto.

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