Can the Maple Leafs avoid the road-trip hangover and kick off a five-game homestand on the right note against the Minnesota Wild? (7:30 p.m. EST, Amazon Prime). Game Day Quotes

Wild head coach Jon Hynes on the challenge against the Leafs: 

I think they are playing really strong hockey. They look like they’re playing a strong, collective team game. Auston is heating up a little bit now, and the goaltending has been good. In general, teams go through these ups and downs, and right now, they are on an upswing.

Usually, when that happens, you are getting production from the guys you expect to get production from, but you are also usually getting a strong team game with everybody contributing.

We know it is going to be a battle.

Hynes on the difficulty of shutting down a red-hot Auston Matthews: 

He is such a good shooter. He is an elusive guy. You try not to give him clean, easy looks, which is difficult because he is an elusive player who finds the scoring areas. We all know his shot. At the same time, he is a big, strong kid. He can hold onto pucks and make plays.

He is always a challenge, whether he is hot or not. But right now, he is heating up, and we are expecting him to be a challenge for us.

Quinn Hughes on the challenge against the Leafs: 

I haven’t seen much of the Leafs, to be honest. The only thing I really know is that Auston has been scoring a lot.

Troy Stecher on carrying over the momentum from a solid road trip back on home ice: 

You’re taking bits and pieces of the road (trip). Beating the top team in the league in Colorado is a really big positive. Finding a way to win in Winnipeg when you’re tired is a big accomplishment for our group, to make it a really good road trip.

Overall, there is a lot of belief in this room among our group of guys that we can really go up against anybody. Now it is about doing it in this homestand. It’s a challenge. We have five really important games, and we can’t look too far. We have to focus on tonight against Minnesota.

Stecher on the challenge presented by former Canucks teammate Quinn Hughes: 

He is a heck of a player. He’s won a Norris Trophy. He plays 30 minutes a night, almost. More than anything, it is about understanding what you have to do on the ice as a five-man unit. For forwards, it is getting in his way. Even if you get beaten as a forward, the defenseman should have a better gap. It all kind of goes hand-in-hand.

It’s about being aware when he is on the ice and trying to be physical on him. Guys like that want time and space to create and move. For our group, how do we limit that as best we can?

John Tavares on Scott Laughton joining his line in Knies’ absence: 

We always laugh about the Oakville connection. He is a heck of a competitor. He has a lot more playmaking offense than a lot of people give him credit for. He plays a hard-nosed game and does a lot of the little things really well, but he has soft hands and a really good understanding of the game. You see it a lot when he gets in alone on a breakaway, with his ability to finish and how smooth he is.

You also have to love the personality and attitude that he has.

He obviously plays a major role for us. He does so many little things well. He is just the life of the locker room. Any time you play with a guy like him, it is a lot of fun.

Tavares on Laughton taunting Jets fans in Winnipeg: 

That is just who he is. He always has something up his sleeve. It is hard to look at him with a straight face because you just know there is something going on in the back of his mind; he is trying to get one up on someone.

He builds the bonds in here. He is an amazing guy with amazing energy. He is just a funny dude who competes like hell. We love him in here.

Scott Laughton on the keys to carrying over the success from the road trip onto home ice: 

We’ve been good at home all year. It is always hard coming back from the West Coast, so we need to have a good first 20 minutes here and set ourselves up for not only this game but the homestand in general, before we go back out west.

We are playing some good hockey teams here. This team has been playing well. We have a big challenge, but we have the group to do it. We just have to stay confident, stay with each other, and play the hockey that we have been playing.

Maple Leafs (24-16-8) vs. Wild (27-13-9): Head-to-Head Stats

via NaturalStatTrick.com & AdvancedHockeyStats.com

Toronto Maple Leafs Projected Lines

Forwards
#74 Bobby McMann – #34 Auston Matthews – #11 Max Domi
#63 Matias Maccelli – #91 John Tavares – #24 Scott Laughton
#53 Easton Cowan – #55 Nic Roy – #89 Nick Robertson
#18 Steven Lorentz – #26 Jacob Quillan – #19 Calle Jarnkrok

Defensemen
#22 Jake McCabe – #95 Oliver Ekman-Larsson
#44 Morgan Rielly – #25 Brandon Carlo
#2 Simon Benoit – #28 Troy Stecher

Goaltenders
Starter: #60 Joseph Woll
#35 Dennis Hildeby

Extras: Philippe Myers, Matt Benning
Injured: Matthew Knies (game-time decision), William Nylander (day-to-day), Chris Tanev (IR), Dakota Joshua (IR), Dakota Mermis (LTIR), Anthony Stolarz (LTIR)

Minnesota Wild Projected Lines

Forwards
#97 Kirill Kaprizov – #38 Ryan Hartman – #36 Mats Zuccarello
#13 Yakov Trenin – #22 Danila Yurov – #91 Vladimir Tarasenko
#17 Marcus Foligno – #37 Hunter Haight – #18 Vinnie Hinostroza
#39 Ben Jones – #78 Nico Sturm – #19 Tyler Pitlick

Defensemen
#43 Quinn Hughes – #7 Brock Faber
#5 Jacob Middleton – #46 Jared Spurgeon
#48 Daemon Hunt – #55 David Jiricek

Goaltenders
Starter: #32 Filip Gustavsson
#30 Jesper Wallstedt

Injured/Out: Matt Boldy, Jonas Brodin, Joel Eriksson Ek, Marcus Johansson, Zach Bogosian