Maple Meets Marner: Toronto Faces an Old Foe in Vegas vs. the Golden Knights

TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS (23-16-7) @ LAS VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS (22-11-12)
9:30 EST/8:30 CT | T-MOBILE ARENA | ESPN

The Golden Knights, sitting at the top of the Pacific, welcome Toronto to the strip for the first time this season at the start of their 3-game home stand. Vegas attempts to continue their season-high winning streak of 5 games with Wednesday’s win over the Los Angeles Kings.

Mark Stone, scoring an assist along with the game-winning goal in late Wednesday’s bout, improved to 2nd overall in game-winning goals for the Golden Knights with 26. He is currently tied at 3rd for most points scored (12) since the turn of the calendar while boasting a nine-game point streak (8G/6A). Meanwhile Jack Eichel continues his insane productivity by factoring in 13 game-winning goals (most by any player this season) and contributing a very nice 1.34 points per game. Eichel sits at 51 points on the season with 16 goals and 35 assists.

Mitch Marner, the real story of tonight, will play his former squad for the first time. Marner spent his first nine seasons with the Maple Leafs before signing an eight year 96 million dollar contract with Vegas. He quickly became one of Golden Knights premiere players, being second in points this season behind Eichel with 47 (11 goals, 36 assists). He had 751 points (221 goals, 52 assists) in 657 games with the Maple Leafs, good enough for sixth-all-time leading scorer in the regular season, and fifth in the playoffs (63 points in 70 games) for Toronto.

Vegas will need a big game out of top forwards if they want to continue their win-streak. They’ve had struggles keeping games close and often finding themselves down late looking to tie recently. If the Golden Knights can win their puck battles and sustain offensive zone drives across all four lines they should come away with the dub tonight.

Toronto comes into tonight sitting one point back of a wild card spot and sixth in the Atlantic Division. The Maple Leafs had a 10-game point streak,including eight wins, before falling to the Utah Mammoth on the road in a dismal showing Tuesday, 6-1.

Auston Matthews found a little bit of an offensive uptick, eight goals and six assists in his last 10 games bringing his totals to 22 goals and 15 assists (37 Points). John Tavares has recorded 16 goals and 24 assists (40 points) this season along with William Nylander’s 16 goals and 30 assists (46 points) lead the Maple Leafs in scoring. Toronto will continue to look for a replacement for Marner’s productivity.

With no injuries reported on either side this should be a great first meeting between the Maple Leafs and Golden Knights. I would take the Golden Knights in regulation for this matchup.