The Toronto Maple Leafs play their first road game of the season against the Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena on Saturday night in the first of a home-and-home series against their Motown Atlantic Division rivals. The Leafs opened the season with a 5-2 win over Montreal on Wednesday, while the Wings got hammered 6-1 by the same Habs club 24 hours later, which means that Detroit will be stepping up their effort against the Blue and White.
Leafs head coach Craig Berube spoke to the media following the morning skate on Saturday and indicated that he would dress the same lineup that played on Wednesday, which meant that rookie Easton Cowan would be a healthy scratch.
“We have to be ready to manage the puck better. (Detroit) is going to be on us quick, so you have to make quick decisions. You have to getting pucks behind them and go to work,” Berube said. “I just didn’t feel there was any need to make any change in the lineup.”
The 2023 first rounder was called up prior to the season opener, but has now not played in two straight, which will begin to be a concern for the future development of the 20-year-old instead of playing regularly in the AHL. The Leafs and Wings were slated to play 4pm on Thanksgiving afternoon, but due to the first game of the American League Championship Series, the game has been moved up two hours to 2pm.
Anthony Stolarz will get the start in goal, and with a day in between games, could make the start on Monday as well, but the club plays the first of three back-to-back games in October on Tuesday against Nashville, which would likely mean the first action for Cayden Primeau in a Leaf uniform or possibly a recall of Dennis Hildeby to make the start against the Predators. One concern with the absence of Joseph Woll is an overload of work for the fragile Stolarz, who played 17 of the Leafs first 27 games before undergoing knee surgery and being out two months.
There has been little update regarding the status of Woll since the announced leave of absence last month, other than GM Brad Treliving’s update that things were progressing well with him, and that there was no update on a timeframe for his return.
