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SPORTSCENTRE Reporter

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TSN Toronto reporter Mark Masters checks in daily with news and notes on the Maple Leafs. The team held an optional skate at T-Mobile Arena Thursday ahead of a game against the Vegas Golden Knights. 

The Maple Leafs will play their second-ever game in Las Vegas Thursday night and will be looking for a much better result than a year ago when they fell 6-3 on New Year's Eve. Toronto trailed 2-0 within five minutes of that game and 3-0 after the first period. 

"It was probably the loudest rink I played in last year, for sure," recalled defenceman Jake Gardiner. "I don’t know if that was the first year or just the atmosphere in Vegas, but definitely a fun building to be a part of."

There's an elaborate opening ceremony, drumline and all sorts of in-game entertainment. What stood out to Mitch Marner? 

"All the above," the right winger said. "I mean, it’s Vegas. …It's a crazy building to play in. It's electric. It's a lot fun and I’m sure it’ll be like that tonight."

With this being Valentine's Day, a special performance of Zumanity by Cirque du Soleil is planned for the first intermission. Zumanity is a cabaret-style show performed at the New York-New York Hotel & Casino on the Strip.

"It was definitely a fun time last year," said Gardiner. "Obviously, didn’t go the way we wanted right away, but you just see the energy in here and people are having a great time. It’s an event in Vegas and people really seem to enjoy it."

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During their morning meeting, the Leafs spent time game planning for the Vegas forecheck.

"We need numbers," said head coach Mike Babcock. "We got to have five available and want the puck. What I mean by that is, if you’re available don’t be quiet. Talk and want the puck and it'll take more than one pass."

"We've definitely talked about how hard they forecheck," said Gardiner, "and their team speed as a whole."

Vegas fell 5-2 on home ice against the Arizona Coyotes a couple nights ago and coach Gerard Gallant slammed his team after the loss – their fourth straight defeat at home – calling the performance "soft."

"I didn't like hearing that coming in," said Babcock. "They got a real good team ... We understand what we're in for."

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On Tuesday night, the Leafs scored three power-play goals in a game for the first time since Dec. 20 against Florida.

It was a much-needed explosion for a team that had struggled to produce on the man advantage of late. ​Marner is usually the quarterback on the top unit, but in Colorado it was John Tavares, who plays the net-front role, picking up his first two primary assists in five-on-four play this season.  

"It’s just trying to draw the d-man up as far as I can," Marner explained when asked about the improvement. "For me, [Auston Matthews] and [Morgan Rielly] it's just trying to make sure we’re moving the puck quick and fast around the top, trying to draw them out and leave [Nazem Kadri] and JT down low a little bit by themselves. If you give those guys time they’ll do something with it."

Toronto's second unit also got in on the fun against the Avalanche as Kasperi Kapanen scored the first power-play goal of his NHL career. Kapanen once again skated in the left-flank spot on the second unit at yesterday's practice. 

The Leafs will face a far stiffer challenge tonight. The Avalanche have the worst home penalty kill in the league this season (69.8 per cent) while Vegas leads that category at 87.8 per cent. 

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Projected Leafs lineup for Thursday's game:

Hyman-Tavares-Marner
Marleau-Matthews-Kapanen
Johnsson-Kadri-Nylander
Lindholm-Gauthier-Brown

Rielly-Hainsey
Muzzin-Zaitsev
Gardiner-Dermott

Andersen starts 

Projected Knights lineup for Thursday's game:

Marchessault-Karlsson-Smith
Pacioretty-Stastny-Tuch
Pirri-Eakin-Lindberg
Carrier-Bellemare-Reaves

McNabb-Schmidt
Theodore-Engelland
Merrill-Miller

Fleury starts