Maple Leafs at Oilers preview
Toronto trying to end road trip with win; Edmonton reuniting Draisaitl, McDavid
by Derek Van Diest / NHL.com Independent Correspondent
MAPLE LEAFS (15-14-4) at OILERS (18-12-4)
7 p.m. ET; CBC, SNO, SNW, SNP, NHL.TV
The Game
Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, the top two scorers in the NHL, will play on the same line for the Edmonton Oilers against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Rogers Place on Saturday.
They had played on separate lines in a 6-5 loss against the Minnesota Wild on Thursday. The Oilers are 0-2-1 during a season-long three-game winless streak.
McDavid leads the League with 57 points (20 goals, 37 assists), and Draisaitl is second with 55 points (20 goals, 35 assists).
The Maple Leafs, who are finishing a four-game road trip, are expected to have forward Trevor Moore back in the lineup. Moore has missed 12 games with a shoulder injury.
Players to watch
Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews has three goals in his past three games, and leads Toronto with 34 points (19 goals, 15 assists) in 33 games.
McDavid has 10 points (two goals, eight assist) in his past seven games.
They said it
"They obviously have a lot of good skill so it's important that we manage the puck, limit turnovers and try to take away from their transition game. They play with a lot of speed so I think it's important that everyone has to be responsible with it and we're not creating turnovers in our own zone and making sure we're not giving up chances-against." -- Maple Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly
"I think we're doing a lot of good things. We're playing good hockey for a good chunk of the games lately but it's just not enough. We kind of shoot ourselves in the foot and then we kind of fight back and then we let it slip again. It's just a matter of sticking with it and building that winning mentality." -- Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl
Maple Leafs projected lineup
Zach Hyman -- John Tavares -- Mitchell Marner
William Nylander -- Auston Matthews -- Kasperi Kapanen
Pierre Engvall -- Alexander Kerfoot -- Ilya Mikheyev
Trevor Moore -- Frederik Gauthier -- Jason Spezza
Morgan Rielly -- Tyson Barrie
Travis Dermott -- Cody Ceci
Jake Muzzin -- Justin Holl
Frederik Andersen
Michael Hutchinson
Scratched: Martin Marincin, Dmytro Timashov, Pontus Aberg
Injured: Andreas Johnsson (leg)
Oilers projected lineup
Leon Draisaitl -- Connor McDavid -- Zack Kassian
Joakim Nygard -- Ryan Nugent-Hopkins -- Alex Chiasson
James Neal -- Gaetan Haas -- Sam Gagner
Jujhar Khaira -- Riley Sheahan -- Josh Archibald
Darnell Nurse -- Ethan Bear
Oscar Klefbom -- Adam Larsson
Kris Russell -- Caleb Jones
Mikko Koskinen
Mike Smith
Scratched: Brandon Manning, Markus Granlund, Patrick Russell
Injured: Matt Benning (head)
Status report
Gauthier will return to the lineup after being scratched the previous four games. … Maple Leafs forward Nic Petan was loaned to Toronto of the American Hockey League on Friday. … Andersen needs one win for 200 in the NHL.
Stat pack
Marner has six points (one goal, five assists) during a three-game point streak. … Draisaitl has seven points (four goals, three assists) in his past six games.