Friday, December 29th, 2023 – 7:00 ET
Nationwide Arena, Columbus, Ohio
TV: Bally Sports Ohio – Radio: 107.5 FM
Opponent’s Blog: Pension Plan Puppets
Toronto Maple Leafs (17-9-6, 40 points, 3rd Atlantic, 5th East)
at
Columbus Blue Jackets (11-18-7, 29 points, 8th Metropolitan, 15th East)
In a weird quirk of NHL scheduling, the Columbus Blue Jackets will finish their season series with the Toronto Maple Leafs just 15 days after kicking it off. After getting out to a 5-0 lead in two periods on December 14th (don’t ask about the third) and playing much better on Saturday than the 4-1 loss would indicate, the Jackets look to put up another good performance to finish the 2023 home slate.
Player to Watch
William Nylander
The term “big four” gets thrown around in Toronto a lot, but most NHL fans mainly think of Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner when talking about the Leafs. William Nylander is challenging that notion this year. Not only does he lead the team in points (and assists), he’s tied for fourth in the entire league at 46 points. His 30 assists also leads Toronto (tied for 7th in the league), and his 16 goals is second on the team (Matthews has 28; Nylander’s in an 11-way tie for 14th in the league in scoring). He has two goals and three assists against the CBJ so far this year.
Jackets Notes
Zach Werenski took a bad fall against New Jersey Tuesday and is considered week-to-week. … Sean Kuraly also missed practice yesterday, suggesting he’ll be out tonight as well. … In better news, Jack Roslovic took reps as the 13th forward, suggesting he could return very soon. … Radio play-by-play man Bob McElliott returned to the booth Tuesday after a scare with a surprise food allergy. Glad to have you back, Bob! … Gavin Brindley is lighting up the World Juniors, posting four goals and an assist in two games so far. The USA faces Czechia at 11am today on NHL Network.
The Other Bench
The Leafs have had an interesting stretch through this series…
Erasing a 5-goal deficit in the third versus the Blue Jackets, only to lose in overtime.
Then thrashing former GM Kyle Dubas and the Penguins 7-0 (good job, Toronto!).
Lost 5-2 to the Rangers.
Then got obliterated 9-3 by the Sabres right after we obliterated the Sabres 9-4 right after the 6-5 game.
Beat us 4-1 heading into the Christmas break.
Lost 4-2 to the Senators, the only team in the East worse than us, heading out of the Christmas break.
Tonight.
Idk man, I just work here.
Season Series
12/14/2023 – CBJ 6 at TML 5 (OT)
12/23/2023 – TML 4 at CBJ 1
12/29/2023 – Toronto at Columbus
Stats
| Toronto | Columbus | |
| 3.53 (4) | GPG | 3.08 (19) |
| 3.38 (23) | GAPG | 3.64 (31) |
| 25.5% (7) | PP% | 14.9% (25) |
| 79.4% (17) | PK% | 82.0% (12) |
| 49.5% (17) | 5v5 Shot Attempt % | 47.1% (26) |
| 49.2% (18) | 5v5 Unblocked Shot Attempt % | 47.4% (24) |
| 9.0% (11) | 5v5 Shooting % | 10.0% (6) |
| .909 (18) | 5v5 Save % | .907 (21) |
| Auston Matthews, 28 | G Leader | K. Marchenko and B. Jenner, 13 |
| William Nylander, 30 | A Leader | Zach Werenski, 24 |
| William Nylander, 46 | P Leader | Zach Werenski, 25 |
| Max Domi, 52 | PIM Leader | Erik Gudbranson, 44 |
| 8-3-4 | Home/Road | 7-10-3 |
| 4-3-3 | Last 10 | 3-4-3 |
Projected Lineups
Columbus Blue Jackets
| Johnny Gaudreau | Adam Fantilli | Justin Danforth |
| Yegor Chinakhov | Dmitri Voronkov | Kirill Marchenko |
| Kent Johnson | Cole Sillinger | Emil Bemstrom |
| Alexandre Texier | Brendan Gaunce | Mathieu Olivier |
| Damon Severson | David Jiricek |
| Ivan Provorov | Andrew Peeke |
| Jake Bean | Erik Gudbranson |
| Elvis Merzlikins |
| Spencer Martin/Daniil Tarasov |
Toronto Maple Leafs
| Matthew Knies | Auston Matthews | Mitch Marner |
| Tyler Bertuzzi | John Tavares | William Nylander |
| Nick Robertson | Max Domi | Calle Jarnkrok |
| Bobby McMann | David Kampf | Noah Gregor |
| Morgan Rielly | TJ Brodie |
| Mark Giordano | Timothy Liljegren |
| Simon Benoit | Jake McCabe |
| Martin Jones |
| Ilya Samsonov |