Toronto Maple Leafs vs Columbus Blue Jackets Game 11 Preview: Lineups, Goaltenders, & Best Bets
the city of Toronto can collectively take a breath. The Leafs won, the Jays won. We can all calm down, take a step back. That is until today when the Maple Leafs head out to Columbus and the Blue Jays yet again play another World Series game. Now, very different ends of the spectrum in terms of what it means to each team and the importance of the game, but nonetheless, the city is sitting and basically holding their breath every time either one of these teams plays at this point. And so, you can understand the anxiety that’s continuing to build up in the city of Toronto right now. Now, the Leafs heading out to Columbus to start off a little bit of a road trip. Just a small one, but regardless, a road trip nonetheless, taking on the Columbus Blue Jackets tonight, the second night of a backtoback. So, in today’s pregame video, we’ll dig into what we’ve got for the lineups, who’s in, who’s out, who’s playing with who, my thoughts on the lineup, and our expectation for the Goenders here tonight, as well as taking a quick look over at what we’ve got for the Columbus Blue Jacket side of things, as well. we will get into our best bet which has not been going the best over the last two games but looking to bounce back here tonight and it’s all a presentation of bet 365. Now let’s jump on over to daily faceoff right away and see what we’ve got for the Toronto Maple Leafs lineup here tonight. Usually you guys know I like to wait a little bit later into the day and see what we’ve got cooking and what we find out out of morning skates and practice and all that kind of stuff. Who’s playing with who? Who’s in, who’s out, who’s not. We’re not really going to find that out. It’s a second night of a backtoback. You know that the Leafs were traveling after their game last night into Columbus. The morning skate, if any, is going to be very, very, very, very, very optional. And we’re not going to find out much. Even if you see guys skating this morning there or on taking line rushes with other guys, there’s a high likelihood that even within that, that’s not what ends up happening for the game. So, I figure we’ll get out ahead of this one. We’ll dig into what we’ve got from last night, what my thoughts on the lines were there and if they continue that over and then on additionally what my thoughts would be about maybe changing these if any. So we’ll start at the top. Bobby McMahon, Austin Matthews, William Nelander. Now Bobby McMahon I think if he’s a guy who’s playing at his peak, he’s on top of his game, he could be a good fit on this line. The unfortunate thing is part of the reason why he’s Bobby McMahon and not Austin Matthews or William Knander is he’s not at that peak at all times. Even, you know, just falling short of what Matthew N brings where it’s that consistent everyday guy who’s got that A+ game and then when he doesn’t have the A+, it’s like a B plus B game where you know what you’re going to get out of him. Bobby McMahon’s is a little bit more of a roller coaster. Okay, he has his A+ one night and then the B game is not really a B game. It’s like a C minus game where he can just go completely invisible. Maybe it’s not a detriment to the team, but when you’re playing in a position like Bobby McMahon is right now on that first line, you got to be a little bit more impactful and he just hasn’t been to this point. Playing on that first line, he looks out of place. Now, I don’t know if it’s just the style of play, which I wanted to give him the excuse of, but then William Knander jumped up with Austin Matthews and they put the three of them together and then that kind of gets wiped out. Bobby McMahon played with William Knander and John Tiveres and found a lot of success. There should be no reason, no excuse for Bobby McMahon, if that were the case, to not have success with these guys, with William Knander and Austin Matthews. In fact, you’d almost expect him to have more. I think this is just a pace and skill issue for Bobby McMahon. I don’t think he’s a first line guy. I think he’s a guy who can help on your second line. I think he’s a guy who’s much better suited for your bottom six. He remains in the top. And I think part of it is out of necessity. You’re putting William Knander up to that first line. You cannot leave John Tiveres with Matias Machelli and Bobby Mcmitt. Not at his age. Not with his speed. You cannot leave John Tiveres on an island like that. It It’s just not fair to him, not fair to your roster, not fair to the depth you have. Like it just cuts you out at the legs where you have a first line of N Matthews and Knander, which in my opinion is a line that you go with late in a game when you’re down a goal. If you do that, you load them up, you just cut out what your second line is. And then there’s a stark contrast between one, two, three, four. If you want to have any sort of depth, any sort of wave of attack, you got to have Matthew N bumped down to the next line. But that does put you in a tough position here with Bobby McMahon being the guy on that line when he’s been playing the way he has where he’s just not necessarily an impact player. Not necessarily. Not at all an impact player on that line. Actually down to your second line here now. Matthew, John Tiver, Matias Machelli. I spoke a lot about the line constructions here of one and two in talking about line one and where Bobby McMahon fits and then with William Knander going up. Uh just notes on this one last night they looked good. John Tivera still chasing goal number 500 of his career sitting at 499 right now. Matthew Nice grabs two last night against the Calgary Flames. He looked like he kind of was like, “All right, you know what? Screw it. I’m going to make an impact tonight. I’m going to be the guy who drives us over the line. I’m going to be the one who does this.” And it wasn’t like your classic takeover game where Matthew N went crazy and nothing could stop him, but does come up with two goals on the night. I thought he looked physically dominant. He looked like a strong player with the puck. He looked strong around the net. Both goals come from the top of the paint. He was making good smart plays. He was in the right areas. I thought he looked good last night. For a guy who’s been good, not great so far to start this season. It felt like last night was a step in the right direction. Hopefully he can continue that tonight. The thing I’m going to say quickly here on John Tiveres, I don’t think it was a a him issue. I think he played well last night. I think he’s just continuing to play John Tiver hockey. I think the guys around him need to stop forcing it to Johnny T. 500’s going to come. He’s going to score that goal. Don’t force it to happen. Everybody on Calgary knew last night is one away from 500. We’re not going to let him get there. Everybody on Columbus is going to know tonight he’s one away from 500. We’re not going to let him get there. Just let it happen naturally because if you over force things, if you push this to happen too much, no offense is going to get generated. You’re not going to get any dangerous chances. You’ve got to let it happen within the flow of play. You’ve got to have let it happen naturally where Johnny T can be the guy to score that way and you become more of a focal point on the wings on the periphery to take away from Johnny T so that the other team Columbus here tonight has to focus on N and Michelli more so than they do just on John Tiveres and then that’ll open them up down to your third line. Dakota Joshua, Nick Wah, Eastn Cowan. As I said last night, I really like Eastston Cowan. Uh, I like the way he played last night. I thought he was aggressive on the forche. I thought he worked hard at chasing down pucks and recovering them, which the Leafs as a whole did a little bit better last night. I’ll give them credit for that. You saw a lot more frequently they would get pucks into the offensive zone. Get them back and then maintain possession. That’s been something they’ve struggled with all season long. So seeing it happen last night on the other side where they actually were able to get the puck and keep it positive sign for this Leafs team. Step in the right direction. I know they were playing the Calgary Flames which was very astutely pointed out by people in the post game in the comments saying it was Calgary. They’re not that good. I get it. But you have to make sure you’re checking boxes. You have to make sure you’re doing the right things. And last night was a step in the right direction in terms of doing the right things. That’s where they get the credit. You can only play who’s on the schedule. And this team has been victim in years past or guilty of, I should say, in years past being the team that doesn’t do those things against lesser teams. You did it last night against Calgary. Can you continue to build? Can you do that tonight against Columbus? Can you carry that over into game 12, 13, 14? Is that something you can continue to build into your identity as you build chemistry? This third line was a line who perpetuates that and hopefully can push it through the rest of the lineup. Hey, we’re going to forch check hard. We’re going to be big. We’re going to be heavy. We’re going to be physical. And Ethan Cowan being a rookie jumping in here playing on that third line. I thought he did a great job of it. Only note from last night really, Wall was fine. Joshua was fine. Not great. They are your third line. and you don’t not expecting them to be incredible every single night. Uh but the only note for me, Eastn Cowan dips below 10 minutes of ice time last night. I don’t love that when you have the development verse helping your team now. Um the 10-minute mark is just one that I’ve set in my own head essentially where it’s not like one side of it he’s got to go to the Marlies, the other side of it he’s fine. But it’s just if he’s consistently now going to dip below 10 minutes and every night you’re watching Craig Breub have to take shifts away from him whether it’s the third period, if it’s when the game gets tied or if it’s just because of special teams, whatever, but he’s not playing that much, which last night we did see a lot of special teams. Good uh note on that. Then that’s when you start to worry about, hey, is he getting the development he needs here? I get he’s not going to be on your first line every night. I get he’s not going to play 12, 13, 14 minutes every night, but if he’s consistently playing sub 10, then you start to have a conversation. Should he be here? And not because he’s not good enough, but he’s a young kid. He doesn’t need to be here. He could go to the Marlies. You don’t have to pass through waiverss. You can just send him down. He can play on the first line. He can play on the first power play. He could hopefully light up the AHL and then come back and be an impact player for the Maple Leafs, but until then, you’re hoping that he can at least get some meaningful minutes. Down to your fourth line here tonight. Uh Steven Lorent, Max Doi, Nick Robertson. Good night for Max Doi yesterday. Talked about it. Uh I feel like he’s miscast in the center position. Don’t think that’s where he’s best suited. found a way to get it done last night. Has a knack to shoot the puck more this season. Nick Robertson, I’m expecting a night out of the guy. We’ll get to that in a moment. We’ll get to that a little bit later. But I’m expecting Nick Robertson to step up and have a night here tonight. Like if he doesn’t this, we’ve talked about auditions. This is an audition of all auditions. Columbus, Robertson, it’s been the names that have been linked and put together for a long time. Hey, could that be a fit? Now all of a sudden Chinoikov pops up. Okay, Chinoikov needs a new change of scenery. He needs to go somewhere else. Could he be the fit that comes back the other way? They’re playing each other tonight. This is the best opportunity of all time for Nick Roberts prove. Hey, I am of value to you. You can use me. Chikov, he doesn’t work there. I don’t work here. Let’s swap. Maybe this is a perfect chance for Nick Robertson to show Columbus and Domell. Hey, you need me over there. Steven Lorent, your fourthline left winger. Look, I I like Lorent. I think he brings the same thing every single night. It’s not every night he’s going to have a goal and we understand that because that’s why he’s on the fourth line, not on your second or your first line. And that’s why he doesn’t make $10 million, $11 million. But he’s a good player, serviceable player. Max Doi shooting the puck more is going to only benefit this Leafs team in the long run. Defensive units tonight remain the same. Ecman Larson, Carlo, Benois McCabe, Morgan Riley Meyers. Uh Morgan Riley struggled last night in my opinion. I don’t think he was very good. Uh I think that he’s got a lot more to offer right now. It it’s it’s tough because I don’t necessarily think he fits into Brew’s system and you know the buyin that he’s being asked of defensively. He can obviously bring stuff offensively, but last year we saw him kind of do neither. He doesn’t fit defensively. He seemed uncomfortable or unconfident in performing offensively. This year to start the season, we saw moving his feet more, engaging in the offense more, making better plays, scoring, contributing. Seems to have slowed down over the last little while. that’s got to pick back up if he’s going to have any kind of meaningful impact on this team and not be a piece that Craig uh Craig Barub and Brad Tree Living look at and say, “Hey, this is a guy that’s holding us back.” Because if he’s not producing offensively, he’s just like a $7 million black hole that you have back there. It’s unfortunate because he’s a beloved player here, longest tenur Maple Leaf. You know, he’s been through the ringer. He’s a guy that I want the best for here in Toronto. But if he can’t contribute offensively, he doesn’t bring that much to you. Last night, we saw him struggling with some of the plays that he was making. You watch the one goal that’s scored by Hanzik to tie the game up late for Calgary last night. It’s a Morgan Riley grenade to Philippe Myers that he ends up picking up. Uh the Flames end up picking up passing to Hanzik back in the middle of which Morgan Riley got beat back to the net. Now, mind you, he was going in transition the other way, but regardless, he’s standing there looking at two Flames players in front of him, and they score and tie the game. That’s when it’s tough. Uh, those are your forward and defensive units for the Toronto Maple Leafs here tonight. Expecting Kaden Primo to go for the Toronto Maple Leafs. If he doesn’t, I would be shocked. I can’t imagine you’re going to play Stallers on back-to-back nights. He looks like he’s wearing out here right now. He looks like he’s getting a little bit tired uh playing as much as he is, being relied upon as much as he is. I know it’s early, but you’re looking at Kaden Primo who’s played two games. Stallers has played eight of the 10 so far. And if you’re playing them on a backto-back as you’re traveling out to Columbus with that travel in between, mind you, that’s when we start to get to concerning areas where it’s like, wow, we can’t even get this guy in the net, which I think you feel like you can trust Primo enough. Just a quick note on the forward units that you’ve got for the Columbus Blue Jackets here tonight. Dimmitri Veronov, Shawn Monahan, Carl Marchenko as your top line. uh Boon Jenner, Adam Fantelli, Kent Johnson as your second line. You know, guys to watch out for if you’re if you’re a Leafs fan and you’re not familiar. Um Adam Fantelli has just continued to mature and take a step. Obviously from the Toronto area, he’s a guy who every time he plays the Maple Leafs seems to step up. Marenko Veronov, those guys up there on the first line for the Columbus Blue Jackets just continue to be machines. Now look, they’re not worldbeater kind of forwards, but very, very good. Have worked very well with Shawn Monahan, especially dating back to last season. Uh Boon Jenner just heavy physical. That’s a guy that we’ve looked at here in Toronto each year coming up to the trade deadline where you say, “Hey, is that a piece that could work?” Well, Columbus wasn’t trading last year, so Boon Jenner off the table. Matthew Olivier gonna be the heavyweight over there for the Columbus Blue Jackets in this one tonight. Newly acquired. Charlie Coyle on the third line center for the Col for Columbus. And then the player that everyone will be watching tonight if you’re a Leafs fan will be Chinoikov, fourthline right wing. Interesting how that works. Robertson fourth line right wing. Chinoikov fourth line right wing. You know both these players trying to find a spot in their teams maybe trying to show why another team maybe the one that they’re playing tonight should have them. But uh that’s what you’ve got for the forward lines for the Columbus Blue Jackets. Uh in net for the Columbus Blue Jackets, it looks like it’s going to be Elvis Mle Mleakens. It’s not going to be easy for Toronto tonight. I will tell you that. The 5-4 Columbus Blue Jackets taking on the 54-1 Toronto Maple Leafs. With that, let’s get to our best bet here quickly. Uh our best bet is a presentation of Bet 365. Again, Bet365 back with us here on the program on the Leafs Nation pregame and the Leafs Nation After Dark. Whatever your bet is, it’s never ordinary at Bet365. Download the app and get in on the game. Use the code nation. That’s nat i n code nation at bet365. Must be 19 or older. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. Best bet tonight. We’re going to keep this one relatively simple, I guess we could say. Um, we’re we’re going to go with two. So, there’s like an obvious one and then there’s there’s the the other one that we’re were like taking a little bit of a swing on and hoping he can come back and put together back-to-back bodies of work. So, let’s take a look over here at Bet 365. You want to jump into the popular tab there for the Columbus Leafs game tonight. Minus 105 for Toronto. The Blue Jackets favored a little bit. – 115. Go to the player props tab. Go to the goal scores. We’re going to go our first goal scorer of the night. Matthew Nise plus 230. Anytime goal, a half unit, $50 on that one will profit you here tonight. $115. Look, reality is it’s a good number. It’s the best number you’re going to find in the market on Matthew. It’s over at Bet365. He’s a guy who’s continuing to step up, playing on that power play, playing late in game situations, either a tie game with a lead down one. He’s always going to be out there on the ice. And then on top of that, playing with Johnny T right now, who yes, he’s looking for 500, but he’s also a great playmaker. Matthew Ni could be a beneficiary of that, especially if Matias Machelli gets going. So that is your first one. Half unit $50 on Matthew N. Anytime goal will profit you 115. The other one we’re going to go down and this one is the one I say is the obvious one. Uh we’re obviously banking on nice to put together back-to-back nights, but the obvious one. Nick Robertson anytime goal. It’s an audition. This guy’s got to be hungry. He has had success playing with Doy. They seem to feed off of each other decently well. I thought he was all over it last night. He had a decent game there against Calgary uh in that one. plus 400 anytime goal scorer against the Columbus Blue Jackets, a team he’s being linked to. Chinnikov audition on the other side, you know, prove your worth kind of game. Nick Robertson, he always shows up after he’s been scratched. How about the prove your worth game for Nick Robertson? $20 on this one. A fifth of a unit will profit you $80 for tonight’s game. That is your best bet for tonight. Uh that is your lineup breakdown. If you like this video, make sure to hit that like button, subscribe here to the channel, turn on notifications so you don’t miss anything right here on the Leafs Nation 401 Leafs morning take today. Jay Rose Hill and Nick Albera. Make sure you go back and check that one out as well. I will be back following tonight’s game against the Blue Jackets for a full postgame recap. Everything that happened, taking calls, getting your thoughts, getting your opinions on everything. I want to hear from you guys. So, let me know your thoughts on the pregame best bet on your prediction for tonight’s game. Then looking forward to hearing from everybody and the after dark tonight following the final buzzer. Thank you for watching as always. Appreciate it. Until tonight, keep beliefing. For more content just like this, including game previews, postgame live shows, Leafs morning take Monday through Friday with Nick Albera and Jay Rose Hill with special guests, as well as instant reaction videos. Make sure to be subscribed here to the Leafs Nation YouTube channel. Turn on notifications so you don’t miss anything and drop a like. [Music]
Game 11 of the Toronto Maple Leafs season is here — and with the city still buzzing after a Leafs win and the Blue Jays keeping heart rates high, Zack Phillips gets you fully set for Leafs vs. Blue Jackets on the second half of a back-to-back. With lineup info limited from an optional morning skate, Zack breaks down what Craig Berube is likely to roll with — including Bobby McMann beside Auston Matthews, and Matthew Knies helping fuel John Tavares as he chases Goal No. 500.
From Easton Cowan’s spark on a more effective third line, to Nic Robertson’s “prove-it” night with trade rumours swirling, every key roster storyline is on the table. Zack also highlights Morgan Rielly needing a bounce-back performance, and why Caden Primeau is expected to get the start. Then, a full look at Columbus — Adam Fantilli’s hometown fire, Kirill Marchenko’s finishing, Boone Jenner’s edge, and Elvis Merzļikins trying to steal one at home.
Your complete Game 11 preview — lineup outlook, matchups to watch, keys to victory, and Bet365 Best Bets — all in one place.
Chapters:
00:00 – Game 11 Setup
00:42 – Top-Six Outlook
02:35 – Knies/Tavares Push
04:20 – Cowan’s Impact
06:18 – Blue Line Needs More
08:14 – Primeau Expected in Goal
09:40 – Columbus Players to Watch
11:30 – Robertson’s Audition
13:02 – Bet365 Best Bets
15:25 – Postgame Reminder
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