Game Day: Leafs vs. Devils

After enduring a disappointing 5-3 loss to the Atlanta Thrashers on Monday, the Maple Leafs (12-17-4) will look to snap their three-game losing streak when they face the struggling New Jersey Devils (9-23-2) tonight.

The last time these two teams met, on November 18th, Phil Kessel and Jonas Gustavsson led the Leafs to a 3-1 win over the Devils during their early-season slide, where they went winless in 11 of 13 games. Toronto is expecting those two players to step up tonight, with their playoff hopes quickly fading.

Speaking of the playoffs, the New Jersey Devils are on pace to miss the post-season for the first time in 13 seasons. They fired head coach John MacLean last Thursday and replaced him with former coach Jacques Lemaire, who will bring stability to the franchise and help patch the holes until a new coach is found.

Nazem Kadri returns to the Leafs lineup tonight, after being a healthy scratch for two straight games, and will play on the second line alongside Tyler Bozak and Phil Kessel. Jonas Gustavsson takes over the starting reins, while Jean-Sebastien Giguere watching from the sidelines with a tweaked groin. James Reimer got a taste on action last Monday, when he came in relief of Gustavsson. He is expected to start his first NHL game at some point this week.

Devils forward Ilya Kovalchuk has heated up recently, 7 points (3 goals, 4 assists) in his past 7 games. Despite his improved play as of late, Kovalchuk has only 18 points in 33 games, along with a league-worst -25 rating this season.

Dion Phaneuf and the rest of the Leafs defenseman will also focus on containing the Devils first line of Patrik Elias, Travis Zajac and Jamie Langenbrunner. The trio has combined for 55 points this year.

Here are tonight’s lineups, courtesy of AM640 reporter Jonas Siegel:

Toronto Maple Leafs

Forwards
Clarke MacArthur – Mikhail Grabovski – Nikolai Kulemin
Nazem Kadri – Tyler Bozak – Phil Kessel
Nikolai Kulemin – Tim Brent – Kris Versteeg
Fredrik Sjostrom – John Mitchell – Colton Orr

Defense
Francois Beauchemin – Dion Phaneuf
Tomas Kaberle – Luke Schenn
Carl Gunnarsson – Mike Komisarek
Ex. Brett Lebda

Goalies
Jonas Gustavsson
James Reimer

New Jersey Devils

Forwards
Patrik Elias – Travis Zajac – Jamie Langenbrunner
Ilya Kovalchuk – Jason Arnott – Dainius Zubrus
Mattias Tedenby – Brian Rolston – David Clarkson
Rod Pelley – Tom Sestito – Adam Mair

Defense
Colin White – Henrik Tallinder
Andy Greene – Mark Fayne
Anton Volchenkov – Anssi Salmela

Goalies
Martin Brodeur
Johan Hedberg

Puck drop is set for 7:00pm and can be seen on Leafs TV.