The Toronto Maple Leafs are making a bold choice with their lineup as they look to continue their hot streak against the surprisingly hot Calgary Flames.
Hot off the heels of a 7-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers, the Toronto Maple Leafs come into the Scotiabank Saddledome looking to make it five wins in a row against the Calgary Flames, a team who has rattled off four wins out of their last five games.
It's a battle of two teams with a lot of momentum, and there are a few milestones to keep an eye on tonight including Auston Matthews' chance to make Maple Leafs history, and Morgan Rielly only two goals from 100 in his career. If things go well tonight - we could see something special.
Toronto's red-hot lineup stays untouched ahead of clash vs. Calgary
But in terms of how the team is going to line up against the Flames, it's very much the same lineup we have seen during their hot streak, and Jim Hiller has decided to leave things untouched for Monday night's tilt:
Cowan - Matthews - Roslovic
Marchenko - Paul - Nylander
McKenna - Sissons - Lettieri
Duhaime - Blueger - MacEwen
McCabe - Raddysh
Rielly - Stecher
Mermis - Ekman-Larsson
Bobrovsky
Stolarz
Things are what you'd expect heading into Calgary, as Auston Matthews and Easton Cowan get another chance to make some magic happen, and it feels like the latter is finally breaking out into a true star - so ride it while it's hot.
The second line is again, pushing the offense and has been fantastic, with Alberta-born William Nylander coming in historically on fire against the Flames. He's looking to ride Marchenko's hot start to the year, as he has 14 points in 13 games since being acquired before the season opened.
The third line has its question marks but there has been some decent chemistry between McKenna and Lettieri, and well, that fourth line is not getting broken up anytime soon.
Defense is more of the same, and if we can get the same production and performance out of Morgan Rielly as we have recently, then the Maple Leafs are going to be in good hands, and Sergei Bobrovsky gets the start after a respite against the Oilers.
Toronto can't take the Flames for granted on Saturday night
However as good as Toronto has been, they are going to need to solve Devin Cooley and his ability to stay in the zone as of late. He has a .912 SV% and 2.80 GAA so far this year, and that's with giving up 10 goals through his first two games.
Not to mention, the Flames are getting help from names like Joel Farabee, Aydar Suniev, and Matthew Coronato - and without Mikael Backlund - who makes his long awaited return tonight against Toronto.
Calgary was a laughingstock heading into the NHL season and many expected them to fail out of the gate. Sure, it was a tough start but the team is getting its footing under it and can't be simply thought of as an easy win.
The Maple Leafs are going to be in tough against Calgary, and they are going to need another full team effort to make sure they can extinguish the Flames on Monday night.
Do you think the Maple Leafs will win five games in a row against the Calgary Flames?
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