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TSN Toronto Maple Leafs Reporter

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TSN Toronto reporter Kristen Shilton checks in daily with news and notes on the Maple Leafs. The Tampa Bay Lightning held an optional morning skate at 10:30 a.m. at Amalie Arena, followed by the Leafs’ optional morning skate.

If the Leafs want to eventually be the NHL’s best team, they have to measure themselves against the best. In part, that’s what Thursday night is all about.

Toronto will meet its division rival in Tampa for the first time this season, sitting second to them in the NHL standings. At a juncture where both teams are mostly healthy and playing well, it’s the perfect opportunity for the Leafs to assess how close their ultimate goal might be.

“It’s a big one. There’s no question about it,” said Morgan Rielly after the Leafs’ optional morning skate on Thursday. “We’re looking at the standings all the time. We know where they are, we know what they’re up to. They’re playing well. It’s a good challenge for us. We have to be ready. I think there will be a little extra juice just because of what’s at stake.”

The Lightning have been the hotter of these two teams lately, winning seven straight and boasting an NHL-best plus-39 goal differential. Toronto hasn’t been as strong since inserting Auston Matthews and William Nylander back into the lineup in recent weeks, but a 4-1 win over Carolina on Tuesday has them trending in the right direction.

“You’re going to find out a lot here tonight,” said Mike Babcock. “So [we’ll] watch them play, try to get the right people on the ice and see what happens and see where you have to go. [Tampa is] setting the standard for the league right now and we’d like to, so we’ll see what happens.”

Babcock said for all the video Toronto watches on high-calibre opponents like the Lightning, there’s nothing that truly prepares for their speed and pace up close. The Leafs have a strong speed game of their own and a comparably high-powered offence, so the tilt could lead to an explosion of goals. Playing from the back end out might be a better strategy, though.

“I anticipate a really fast-paced, great game where I think everyone is talking about the offence,” said Steven Stamkos, “but usually when you’re playing a big game like this you try to focus on doing the right things defensively first, and we’ll see how it plays out.”

“When you play a team that’s this good, you’re a bit cautious going into it,” added Rielly. “Might be nerves, might be not wanting to make any mistakes, and that can sometimes lead to not quite the outburst people expect. But you never really know. We’ll be ready one way or another and we’re looking forward to it.”

One player who has been especially integral to the Leafs’ offensive success so far is John Tavares, who leads the team with 19 goals. Tampa was one of the clubs Tavares met with during his free agency last summer, but passed on the Lightning for the Leafs.

“Were we upset he didn’t come here? Of course. But you can’t say he didn’t make the right decision,” said Lightning coach Jon Cooper. “He’s having a hell of a season on a great team. So, [I’m] happy for him.”

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- Good news for the Lightning, bad news for the Leafs: Andrei Vasilevskiy will make his return to the starters’ net for Tampa on Thursday after sitting out since Nov. 10 with a foot injury.

“Feels great [he’s back],” said Stamkos. “He’s been our MVP for a long time here on this team. I know it was tough for him to watch all those games. We [just] can’t have that let down now that he’s back. …We can’t just think he’s back and he has it covered. He does most of the time, but we’ll look to continue playing the right way.”

In Vasilevskiy’s absence, backup Louis Domingue stepped in and produced a 11-3-0 record, which helped keep the Lightning on track while Vasilevskiy got healthy.

A finalist for the Vezina Trophy last season, Vasilevskiy was off to a terrific start before getting hurt, going 9-3-1 with a .927 save percentage. Coming back against the Leafs could help the netminder pick up where he left off – Vasilevskiy is 7-4-1 against the Leafs since 2014-15, with a .917 save percentage and 2.44 goals-against average.

“He’s a good goalie, we’re going to have to be on the net,” said Babcock, “and find some second chances and get traffic there so he doesn’t see everything.”

If the Lighting work their game plan properly, those chances Toronto generates will be few and far between. Tampa allows 31.2 shots on goal per game, 14th fewest in the NHL, which was an important factor in their success without Vasilevskiy between the pipes.

“Vasy is Vasy, he’s going to be a Vezina-quality goalie every year, [but] nothing should really change for us,” said Stamkos. “I think we’ve done a good job of limiting chances and we’re going to have to really do that tonight against an offensive team with the firepower that Toronto has.”

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Maple Leafs projected lines vs. Lightning:

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

Defencemen
Rielly-Hainsey
Gardiner-Zaitsev
Dermott-Ozhiganov

Goaltenders
Andersen
Sparks​