Team Blue Vs Team White. Fight!

Blue vs White scrimmage

Tonight, the Toronto Maple Leafs are broadcasting a scrimmage game, and frankly I am far to excited. The structure for the game is as follows:

1. - 1st period 20 minutes, followed by a shootout

2. - 2nd period 20 minutes, followed by a full 3-on-3 OT

3. - 3rd period 20 minutes, focusing on special teams (aka, swapping power plays)

6 pm ET puck drop on TSN

The rosters have been announced:

As of now the lines have not been set, Though Keefe has come out and said Mathews will not take part.

Using what we have see from the Pre-Season I would guess Keefe throws out these lines

Blue:

Ritchie-Marner-Nylander

Mikheyev-Kerfoot-Simmonds

Gogolev-Seney-Anderson

Mckenna-Semyonov- Amadio

Abramov

Sandin-Holl

Rielly -Dermott

Duszak-Biega

Rubins

Kallgren

Petruzzeli

White:

Robertson–Tavares-Ho-Sang

Bunting-Kampf-Kase

Gusev-SDA-Spezza

Kopacka-Brooks-Gabriel

Muzzin-Liljegren

Dahlstrom-Brodie

Menell-Hollowell

Kral

Hutchinson

Cormier

An educated guess lets call it, although the further in the line-ups the less comfortable I feel with my guesses. I will just preview the matchup of the top two lines.

Ritchie-Marner-Nylander Vs Robertson–Tavares-Ho-Sang

It is a shame Mathews cannot get in on this. I hope they let him Ref, since the NHL cracked down on the Leafs for having actual Refs at there practices.

There is a lack of Center depth on the Blue team, so I am throwing Marner into 1C. Maybe swap in Nylander to get them both some C time.

It appears that Blue is more Skill and White is more Work Ethic. It will be interesting to see who ends up with possession most the time.

The X-factor for Blue is Nylander. He took over the Ice in his first Pre-Season game, can he do it against JT?

The X-factor for White is Nicky Roberts, will we see what this kid can do? Yet to see a Lazer from this kid all camp.

Mikheyev-Kerfoot-Simmonds Vs Bunting-Kampf-Kase

New Vs Old. Two potential third line options this year for the Leafs, with drops of higher end talent. Will Bunting and Simmonds get into a Donny Brook?

How will team White handle the speed of Mikheyev? Will Mikheyev be able to burry a couple and show Keefe what he can be.

I am curious to see Kampf take on a legit NHL center in Kerfoot, I have heard so much about his game yet seen so little. From the sounds of it we should hear very little of Kerfoot’s name if Kampf is on his game.

The X-factor for team Blue is Mikheyev, he has gotten looks at a ridiculous clip this pre-season. He needs to start burying consistently. I really hope Soups can find it, he will be the fastest on the Ice tonight.

The X-factor for team White is Bunting, can he get another hattrick? More, more, more of this kid, I bet he fights Simmonds.

Defense:

I really like how the D-men shuffled out; Holl V Muzzin, Sandin v Liljegren, Rielly V Brodie.

You play with them every night, what might they glean from lining up against them. What will they see which they may not have noticed before.

Or maybe lets just enjoy watching Muzzin try and piss off Holl.

Goalies:

Hutchinsons is legit the only Goalie I have heard of. Both Scott and Woll got hurt so the Leafs have had to get creative with their goalie situation. Signing Evan Cormier to a PTO:

So I am definitely keeping a close eye in net to find out who these goalies are and what they look like. Fingers crossed for some sweet masks and pads.

With the game tonight I will change this post if I am completely wrong about the lines, which I might be.

The Leafs have a lot in store tonight for Fans, with a full game, a shootout, a 3-3 OT and a Special teams circus. I would love to know what kind of money/bets are on the board for tonight’s game and the separate aspects.

It may mean nothing in the grand scheme of things, but tonight should make it obvious who isn’t making the trek to Montreal. And potentially endure some new faces to the fans of Leaf Nation! Let’s hope for an injury free night full of action and sick dangles.