Game Day: Leafs vs. Penguins

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Coming off back-to-back wins to start the regular season, the Toronto Maple Leafs (2-0-0) will look to win their third straight game tonight as they visit the brand new Consol Energy Center to face the Pittsburgh Penguins (1-2-0).

Toronto defeated the Montreal Canadiens 3-2 in their home opener last Thursday and strolled into Ottawa two days later to dominate the Senators in this season’s first chapter of the ‘Battle of Ontario’.

Ron Wilson is expected to dress virtually the same lineup that brought success for the team in the first two games against Montreal and Ottawa. With Brett Lebda returning from a shoulder injury, he might be slotted into the third pairing with Mike Komisarek, however it appears more likely that he will return on Friday when the Leafs meet the New York York Rangers.

Jonas Gustavsson will start his first game of the season, despite Jean-Sebastien Giguere's outstanding play in the Leafs first two games, stopping 43 of 46 total shots. Wilson indicated yesterday that he intends to let Giguere and Gustavsson split the games for the first month of the season.

On the other end of the rink, the Penguins have had a slow start to the season, with its star players Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin combining for only 2 points in 3 games played. Newcomer Paul Martin is leading the way on defense with 1 goal and 3 assists in 3 games.

Jordan Staal (foot), Arron Asham (upper body), Zybnek Michalek (undisclosed) and Brooks Orpik (undisclosed) are all on the injury reserve for the Penguins.

Toronto Maple Leafs Lines

Forwards
Kris Versteeg – Tyler Bozak – Phil Kessel
Nikolai Kulemin – Mikhail Grabovski – Clarke MacArthur
Fredrik Sjostrom – Tim Brent – Colby Armstrong
Mike Brown – Mike Zigomanis – Colton Orr
Ex. John Mitchell

Defense
Francois Beauchemin – Dion Phaneuf
Tomas Kaberle – Luke Schenn
Carl Gunnarsson – Mike Komisarek

Goalies
Jonas Gustavsson
Jean-Sebastien Giguere

Pittsburgh Penguins Lines

Forwards
Chris Kunitz – Sidney Crosby – Mike Comrie
Eric Tangradi – Mark Letestu – Evgeni Malkin
Matt Cooke – Maxime Talbot – Tyler Kennedy
Michael Rupp – Craig Adams – Pascal Dupuis

Defense
Kris Letang – Paul Martin
Zybnek Michalek – Deryk Engelland
Alex Goligoski – Ben Lovejoy

Goalies
Marc-Andre Fleury
Brent Johnson

The Pittsburgh Penguins are looking to get their first win at their new arena, so they will come out hard from the beginning and put the pressure on Toronto. The Leafs must continue their winning ways by playing quality special teams and clearing the crease in front of Giguere.

The game starts at 7:30pm on TSN.