HockeyLady Posted January 4, 2018 Share Posted January 4, 2018 SHARKS (21-12-4) at MAPLE LEAFS (23-16-2) 7 p.m. ET; SNO, NBCSCA, NHL.TV The Game The Toronto Maple Leafs look to avoid a four-game losing streak, which would be their longest this season, when they host the San Jose Sharks at Air Canada Centre on Thursday. Maple Leafs forward Patrick Marleau will face his former team for the second time; he had no points and was minus-2 in 14:16 of ice time in Toronto's 3-2 loss at San Jose on Oct. 30. Marleau, 38, played his first 19 NHL seasons with the Sharks from 1997-2017. Toronto is 3-6-1 in its past 10 games. San Jose will try to win for the fifth time in six games. The Sharks are 4-1-0 in their past five games after going 1-1-2 in their previous four. Players to watch Sharks forward Joe Thornton has 11 points (four goals, seven assists) in his past 11 games and needs two points to tie Adam Oates (1,420 points) for 17th place on the NHL's all-time list. Marleau has five points (three goals, two assists) in his past four games. They said it "In the locker room, on the ice, he's a Hall of Fame player in my mind and he's a world class guy, so there was a void. But as the games have started you move on, and we've got this year's edition of the San Jose Sharks and we don't have the luxury of Patrick Marleau. We're trying to find our own identity without him, and I think we're doing a pretty good job." -- Sharks coach Peter DeBoer "He's been better than what I expected and the guys have taken to him even quicker. … He's been unbelievable for us, like it's scary how good he's been for us." -- Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock on Marleau's impact Sharks projected lineup Timo Meier -- Joe Thornton -- Joe Pavelski Tomas Hertl -- Logan Couture -- Joonas Donskoi Mikkel Boedker -- Chris Tierney -- Kevin Labanc Marcus Sorensen -- Joel Ward -- Melker Karlsson Brenden Dillon -- Brent Burns Marc-Edouard Vlasic -- Justin Braun Joakim Ryan -- Dylan DeMelo Martin Jones Aaron Dell Scratched: Jannik Hansen, Tim Heed, Paul Martin Injured: Barclay Goodrow (upper body) Maple Leafs projected lineup Zach Hyman -- Auston Matthews -- William Nylander Patrick Marleau -- Nazem Kadri -- Leo Komarov James van Riemsdyk -- Tyler Bozak -- Mitchell Marner Matt Martin -- Frederik Gauthier -- Connor Brown Morgan Rielly -- Ron Hainsey Jake Gardiner -- Connor Carrick Andreas Borgman -- Roman Polak Frederik Andersen Curtis McElhinney Scratched: Josh Leivo, Dominic Moore, Martin Marincin Injured: Nikita Soshnikov (lower body), Nikita Zaitsev (lower body) Status report Goodrow could return against the Ottawa Senators on Friday, DeBoer said. … Zaitsev will miss his eighth straight game. Stat pack Burns has 14 points (five goals, nine assists) in his past 11 games. … Labanc has nine points (one goal, eight assists) in his past six games. … Marner has nine points (three goals, six assists) in his past seven games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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