Toronto Maple Leafs vs Dallas Stars Game 35 Preview: Lineups, Goaltenders, & Best Bets

Toronto Maple Leafs vs Dallas Stars Game 35 Preview: Lineups, Goaltenders, & Best Bets

Game 35 of the Toronto Maple Leafs regular season. And honestly, it’s kind of like a dark and gloomy feeling around this game right now. It feels like we’re heading into Craig Brew’s last game behind the bench of the Toronto Maple Leafs. And regardless of what you think of Craig Brew and the job he’s done here, it’s sad to see the situation that the Maple Leafs are in and the fact that we’re probably at a point here where another man is going to lose his job. But that’s the reality of the situation. Heading into Dallas on the second night of a backtoback after a piss poor performance against the Nashville Predators last night in Nashville, the Maple Leafs. It seems like we’re staring down the barrel of it right now heading into Dallas against a really good team traveling backto back lineup changes whatever you want to look at. It doesn’t seem positive for the Maple Leafs. We’re going to keep this one short and simple for a few reasons. One, last night at after the game against the Nashville Predators, right here on this channel, Leaf Station 401, hit that like, hit that subscribe, we broke down the entire game, what’s happening with the lineup, the whole season, how things have played out, where the state of the Toronto Maple Leafs are at. as well for today’s game. One, they’re traveling, so we’re not going to get a morning skate that’s going to give us any type of information like we usually get when it comes to line combos and who’s going with who. Uh, and the other reason would be Craig Barube kind of threw out there after last night’s game when he was asked about the lineup, the fact that, yeah, there will probably be changes. You know, he’s got a lot of forwards, there’s a lot of bodies in and out. Uh, we’ll see what happens today. That to me makes my job really hard. And I know that I have a very easy job and I get to come here and talk about Maple Leafs hockey and it is a dream, but in the grand scheme of things, when you do a game preview for each game and the coach leaves it up to that and then you don’t get a morning skate, it makes it a little difficult for me to go through the lines and say, “Here’s what we’ll see tonight.” So, what we will do is look at daily faceoff, just go a quick run through lines one to four, the defensive pairings, and I’ll throw out some some thoughts on what I think about potential lineup changes for today, not what I think should happen. Just maybe kind of guessing or throwing out my thoughts and opinions about who could come out, who could change, and who I don’t think should be taken out of this lineup. If you guys are watching, drop in the comments below what your thoughts are for tonight. I think all collectively we’re going to be playing some type of guessing game when it comes to the Maple Leafs line lineup. Today’s game preview as always is a presentation of Bet 365. I’m Zach Phillips. Let’s head over to Daily Face Off and see what we’ve got from last night and what might change for today. So, first of all, first line N Matthews Cowan. That’s kind of where we finished last night. Your second line Machelli to Knlander. One thing I would change here is swap Cowan and Machelli. I think Machelli needs to stay in your lineup. If Craig Buru takes Matias Machelli out of this lineup ahead of this game, Brad Living should just walk down there after getting the lineup card and just tell Bubet, “No need to go behind the bench tonight. You’re out. I’m going to actually play Matias Michelli and you are going to go home and get on a plane back to Toronto or wherever it is that you’d like to go because you will not be coaching the team tonight.” Matias Machelli looked good. And if you’re going to pin this effort and that performance and those results on anybody last night, it ain’t Matias Machelli. I liked what he brought. I like the approach to the game. I liked his skill. Um I have no issue with Matias Michelli. And in fact, I would like to see him get an opportunity to stay in the lineup here tonight. Eston Cowan, I also like what he brings. I just would rather see Ethan Cowan playing with the Tiverus Knander line where he seemed to have success earlier on rather than putting him onto that first line and kind of forcing him to have to deal with whatever is going on with Austin Matthews and Matthew N right now. We heard from Nick Albera on the postgame show last night. I don’t even know if this breaking news or not, but he talked about it on the postgame last night. He’s been dealing with a lower body injury and that would all seem to make sense when you look at NY, you look at his play and you look at where it was last year versus what it is this year. The whole Matthew Ny situation, it makes sense when you say lower body injury he’s battling through because he doesn’t look as explosive. He doesn’t look as fast. He looks behind on a step behind on some plays. And you know, this is a guy that we on this channel have basically all fallen in love with here and what he brings and how he plays and the style of play that he has. I think rightfully so, we’ve fallen in love with the player, but you can be honest and critical about the way he’s played right now. It’s not been good enough. And when Nick throws out there, hey, Matthew is probably dealing with a lower body injury here right now or kind of confirms that, it all makes sense. And you know, you give the kid credit for battling through this and just being the warrior that he is for playing. But yeah, it lines up. The production hasn’t been there. That that step, that pop that he has in his game, it’s not there right now. And the injury seems to make sense. I would rather keep Cowan off of that. Go to the second line and then give Machelli the opportunity to go to the first line and be the playmaker with Austin Matthews. If this guy is a playmaker merchant and he’s not a guy who can drive a line, first of all, he shouldn’t be making 3.25 13.25 25 excuse me a million dollars Austin Matthews but if he is then give him the guy who can make plays and that’s Matias Machelli right now I think Een Cowan brings a lot more to the game uh when it comes to energy intensity wise willing to battle uh willing to retrieve pucks so put him on that second line Matias Michelli doesn’t do it quite the same and I know I just talked about N being a step off but uh he’s the guy who can do that he’s the guy who can go in on the forch check he’s the guy who can retrieve pucks and win corner battles and then get in the psycho game. Machelli will be the playmaker. I’d rather him go with Matthews. Your third line, Robertson, Wah, McMahon. Uh, this is where I just start to not even know what to make of the lineup. I liked Dakota Joshua, Nick Wah, and Bobby and Bobby McMahon playing together. I did. It gets broken up like most things here with this team this season and actually even in season’s best when Sheldon Keefe was here. If you want my opinion, I think what I would do is put together some combination of Dakota Joshua, Nick Wah, and Nick Robertson. Not really because I think that that’s like the chemistry line that works and whatever, but Bobby McMahon has not been playing very well. I don’t think McMahon has been playing at the level that he needs to be and like we saw him playing at for points of last season where he can be a really impactful player. So move the guy to the fourth line because Dakota Joshua to me has been. Now if the idea here is that your fourth line is really your third line and you’re playing Dakota Joshua and Scott Lton together, that’s fine, but I wouldn’t put Cali Yarncroak with those guys. I would maybe look to somebody else to put them in there. I get this is where it just gets confusing where it’s like I think some combination of Dakota Joshua and Nick Wah and Nick Robertson might be interesting because Nick Robertson battles his bag off Dakota Joshua has been doing the same. I think Nick Wah is a responsible mature player. Uh we saw that he scored that goal last night to open the game last night. Like I I like those pieces going together. I don’t mind that at all. And then it’s going to your fourth line. Do you bring Max Doi back in? I I I don’t know that you do. I don’t think he’s done too much positively here to impact that. But I mean, this is again the combination and the conversation where if you’re going to deploy your fourth line as a third line, I would like to see Dakota Joshua, Scott Lton, and Nick Robertson go there and then they play your 10, 12 minutes kind of guys, 13, 14 maybe even if you start to rely upon them more. And then your line of Nick Qua and Bobby McMahon and I don’t know if you want to put Cali Croker, Max Doi, they go on your fourth line and they play 8 to 10. That’s kind of how I would look at things a little bit more uh and start to piece pieces together. Now Craig Brew said we might experience some lineup changes here tonight. I wouldn’t be surprised if Max Doi does slide back into this lineup and does take out Cali Yarnro. I can’t see a reason why that anybody like Joshua Lton Wah Robertson um or anybody in your top six for that matter would come out. It would come down to Bobby McMahon or Cali Yarn Croak to me. And if either of those guys did come out, I I’m not going to throw a fit over it. But I just don’t see a need right now to put Max Doi back in. Maybe Brew just thinks he’s going to get a spark out of him. Fair enough. But outside of that, I don’t really see a reason for him to jump back. Uh those are your forward lines for tonight. Again, drop in the comments below what you think about today’s lineup and who should come in, who should come out, and who you’d want to see play with who. That maybe that’s the best thing to do. Drop in your lineup for tonight. Not projected, but who do you want to see play together? Lines one through four. That’s what I want to see. One through four, who do you want to see play together? Give me your best lineup for tonight’s game in the comments below. down to your defensive pairings, which we’ll not spend a lot of time on, but Flee Myers, Morgan Riley is what’s still currently listed. Jake McCabe, Troy Stetcher, Ecman Larson, Simone Benois, uh Flee Myers, get out of the lineup. This guy should not be playing. I’m not saying that from last night being atrocious or anything, but like Meyers I I don’t want to see playing in the Maple Leafs lineup. I’d rather see Thrun in there. And so maybe it’s Ben who comes out. Maybe it’s Morgan Riley who’s got to [ __ ] come out at this point. But I’d rather see Thrunn go into this Maple Leafs lineup than some of these guys right now. Oel, Stcher, McCabe, they’ve got to be there. They’ve been good. Oel’s been your best defenseman. Jake McCabe and Troy Stetcher your best pairings right now. But, uh, I have no reason why Thrun should have come out after the last few games that he played. I thought he looked fine. He wasn’t a problem necessarily. I thought he was one of the guys who looked mobile. He had some bite to him. Why does he have to come out? Why does Philipe Myers have to go in? I I’m taking Meyers out of this lineup starting there. Uh Morgan Riley, another terrible performance from him last night and then just gets absolutely dogwalked on the Evangelista goal and just put through the [ __ ] spin cycle inside out. And that’s just a just a isolated incident of what Morgan Riley’s defensive career has looked like throughout his time in the NHL and specifically here obviously over the last little while with the Toronto Maple Leafs. That was a frustrating moment to watch knowing that most of this fan base has been demanding taking his ice time away, taking power play opportunities away, knowing how poor he’s played defensively over the last bit. And then watching that take place was just another nail in the coffin when it came to Morgan Riley’s time as a Toronto Maple Leaf. Those are your defensive pairings for tonight’s game. On the second night of a back-to-back after Wall played last night, I’m going to imagine that Dennis Hilde would play again. If Wall goes tonight, that’s just malpractice by the coaching staff to put him in on a backto-back. I see no reason for that being the case. I think Dennis Hillby goes and then Jakeer confirmed on the other side for the Dallas Stars. So those are your lineups, your goalenders, and your defense for tonight’s game. Let’s get to our best bet. Our best bet is a presentation of Bet365. Whatever your bet is, it’s never ordinary at bet365. Use code Nation. That’s Natio N. Code Nation. N A T I O N must be 19 or older Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you are someone you know has a gambling problem, visit connects ontario.ca. Best bets last night did not do so well or best bet I should say. We lost to Nick Robertson anytime goal plus 550. We had a half unit on that one. So that brings our total on the season to minus 6.3 units. It’s been atrocious. Like I’m not going to I’m not going to try to sugarcoat it. It’s been awful. I think a lot of this has to do with the Maple Leafs not being very good and being very hard to predict. Uh hard to predict lines, who’s playing with who, whose minutes are going to go up and down and who’s ready and who’s injured and who’s sick. It’s a been a gong show of a betting season. But I mean, maybe as the team just becomes predictably awful, we can predict bets a little bit better. So, I I’ll go with some stuff that I knew from the other day. And let’s jump on over to our uh odds for tonight’s game. Maple Leafs plus 175. The Dallas Stars minus 210. Uh heavy underdogs for the Toronto Maple Leafs and deservingly so. If you look at the puck line there, – one and a half for Dallas, plus 120, plus one and a half for the Maple Leafs, – 140. And then you look at the total, six – 105 to the under, – 115 to the over. This is a first time this season and a rare moment for this, but I actually do have a bet on a side or a total. We’re going to go Dallas Stars puckline minus one a half plus 120. Half unit on this will profit you $60. That’s our first bet of the day. So half unit minus one a.5 plus 120 for the Dallas Stars puck line for tonight. That would mean the Dallas Stars have to win by two or more goals. Uh I think that this is honestly a pretty good bet here tonight. The Maple Leafs are awful. They’re on the second night of a backtoback. You’d think that there would be some type of response and jump and push back from this group. Uh in years past in this season, I don’t think so. I don’t think they have it. I don’t think that they care. I don’t think that they have the energy, the intensity, the excitement, none of it. You look at the game against Chicago, you’d think that they would do it there after the poor performance against Edmonton. They don’t do it against Chicago. You look think look at the game against Washington, you’d think that they do it there after the poor performances against Edmonton and Chicago and they don’t do it against Washington. And then after that, you’d think they’d do it on Saturday after the poor performances in the three prior games and they don’t do it on Saturday. So why the [ __ ] would they do it against Dallas here tonight? Like seriously, if Dallas is the worst team in the NHL, like you just played Nashville last night, or the best team in the NHL, which they’re not far off of in the Colorado Avalanche. The Dallas Stars are actually one of the three best teams in the [ __ ] NHL right now. Why would the Toronto Maple Leafs show up tonight? I have no interest in backing them. I have no interest in betting on them. I have no interest in supporting them. So, bet number one is the Dallas Stars minus one and a half. They’re an unbelievable team. They’re sitting there ready to take advantage of the Toronto Maple Leafs and just steamroll them here tonight. I think Dallas wins this one and I think Dallas wins this one big. I think this is the last game for Craig Bub and I think Dallas just walks out there rolls over the Maple Leafs and everybody walks home goes home embarrassed uh as Leafs fans. Maybe not embarrassed if you’re the guys on the ice because they don’t seem to play that way. But Dallas minus one and a half plus 120. Player props for tonight. I got two. one is a Maple Leaf. Uh, but I think you’ll get why. And if you don’t, I understand and you can push back. But Nick Robertson, no goals in his last five. We’re going to go plus $500. $10. A tenth of a unit on Nikki Bobby anytime gold. This will profit us $50 on the night. It’s a battle against his brother. You imagine his parents are there. Everybody’s going to be excited from the Robertson family. I actually think the kids have been playing well. I think Nick Robertson’s looked really good. He looks hungry. He he battles hard. Like I think Nick Robertson is going to show up tonight and have himself a game. He’s looked pretty good over the last couple. I’m going to bet on him to score, but we’re going to keep it tiny. $10 will profit you 50. Uh and then our final bet. We’re going to scroll down. We bet on this the other day. We’re going to continue this. We’re going to try it again. We’re going to go to the blocked shots tab and we’re going to go Jake McCabe over two and a half shots on goal. That’s also three plus shots on goal at plus 130. A half unit on Jake McCabe will profit you here tonight $65. Half unit will profit $65 at plus$130. That is our third best bet. So to recap, Dallas minus one a.5 plus 120. $50 on that one will profit you 60. Nick Robertson anytime goal 50 uh plus 500 sorry $10 a tenth of a unit will profit you 50 on that one. And then our final one, Jake McCabe blocked shots. Three plus at plus 130 half unit will profit you 65. Just some some logic behind this one. I think the Maple Leafs get shelled. I think they’re slow. They’re behind the game. They probably take penalties. Dallas will have to go to the power play. I think Dallas kicks the [ __ ] out of them at five on five. It’s just going to mean Jake McCabe is going to play a lot of minutes. He’s going to be in front of a lot of pucks and he’s going to have to block a lot of shots. So, I’m going to go Jake McCabe over three uh over two and a half or three plus block shots in tonight’s game. So, those are your best bets. If you like this, if you enjoyed it, hit that like button, subscribe here to the channel, Leafs Nation 401, right here on YouTube. I will be back following tonight’s game against the Dallas Stars to break down everything that happened in this game as well as looking ahead to the future as we head closer and closer to the holidays. What happens with this team, coaching staff, players, management, all of it and more right here on this channel. So like and subscribe. We’ll see you guys tonight for another edition of Leafs Nation after dark following the game against the Dallas Stars. Until then, try every way you can find it somewhere deep within you to keep beliefing. For more content just like this, including game previews, postgame live shows, Leaf’s 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.

Game 35 comes with a dark, gloomy cloud over the Toronto Maple Leafs. After a “piss poor” showing in Nashville, the Leafs roll into Dallas on a back-to-back looking completely lost — and it genuinely feels like this could be Craig Berube’s last game behind the bench. Tonight we break down everything from the lineup chaos, Berube’s postgame comments, and the lack of a morning skate, to which forwards actually deserve to stay in the lineup.

We dig into Auston Matthews, Easton Cowan, and why Matias Maccelli must remain in the top six; the state of Matthew Knies as he battles a lower-body injury; why Dakota Joshua, Nicolas Roy, and Nick Robertson should be leaned on; how Bobby McMann and Calle Järnkrok fit; and whether Max Domi has earned his way back in.

Plus: a full look at the defensive mess — Morgan Rielly’s brutal night, Philippe Myers’ struggles, Benoit vs. Thrun, and why Jake McCabe and Oliver Ekman-Larsson remain the bright spots. We also break down goaltending (Woll vs. Hildeby), and the Bet365 best bets for Leafs–Stars.

Chapters:
00:00 – Gloomy tone entering Game 35
00:28 – Leafs stumble into Dallas after awful loss
00:54 – Why no morning skate complicates everything
01:19 – Berube hints at lineup changes
02:20 – Reviewing last night’s lines via Daily Faceoff
02:40 – Matthews–Knies–Cowan: what works, what doesn’t
03:03 – Why Maccelli must stay in the lineup
03:42 – Knies’ lower-body injury insight
04:37 – Why Cowan belongs back with Tavares & Nylander
05:49 – Robertson, Joshua, McMann & identity issues
06:56 – Fourth-line confusion: Laughton, Järnkrok, Domi
07:35 – Should Max Domi return?
08:29 – Who actually deserves to come out
09:02 – Defensive pairings breakdown
09:20 – Why Philippe Myers shouldn’t play
09:40 – McCabe–Stetcher and OEL–Benoit evaluations
10:01 – Morgan Rielly’s rough night & defensive trend
11:11 – Goaltending: Woll vs. Hildeby
11:29 – Best Bet: Stars puck line
13:15 – Why Dallas should roll Toronto
15:08 – Robertson goal pick logic
15:45 – McCabe block-shots bet
17:05 – What’s next for the Leafs heading into the holidays

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