Red Wings at Maple Leafs
Staggered by a five-game losing streak that took them from contending for first place in the Atlantic Division to falling outside of the playoff picture, the Toronto Maple Leafs look to regroup when they host the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday night. Toronto is one point out of the second wild card in the wake of its five-game skid (0-3-2).
The Maple Leafs, who scored a combined eight goals during the drought, had three days off after absorbing a 5-2 thrashing by Anaheim on Friday in the finale of a three-game West Coast trek. "Just the rest and being at home for a few days has been the best part," Toronto center Tyler Bozak said at Monday's brief practice. Detroit has surrendered nine goals -- three to rookie Auston Matthews -- in dropping both matchups to the Maple Leafs this season. The Red Wings, who are 1-1-1 on their five-game road trip, are buried in last place in the Eastern Conference and 10 points out of the final playoff slot.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, FSN Detroit, TVAS, TSN4 (Ottawa), NHL.TV
ABOUT THE RED WINGS (25-27-11): Defenseman Ryan Sproul suffered a knee injury in Saturday's loss at Edmonton and is scheduled to undergo an MRI exam on Tuesday, paving the way for another rookie, Robbie Russo, to make his NHL debut. A former Notre Dame product, Russo has seven goals, 24 assists and is a plus-14 in his second season in his second season at Grand Rapids and was a stunning plus-40 a year ago. Forward Gustav Nyquist missed Monday's practice due to the stomach flu.
ABOUT THE MAPLE LEAFS (28-22-14): The high-scoring line of James van Riemsdyk, Bozak and rookie Mitch Marner had their troubles at the other end of the ice in Anaheim, which each recording a minus-4. "The bottom line is, you can't outscore your mistakes in this league so they got to be better without (the puck) and they got to be better with it," coach Mike Babcock said. Babcock shuffled two other lines Monday, moving Connor Brown to the top line in place of William Nylander.
OVERTIME
1. Maple Leafs G Frederik Andersen has won all three career starts versus the Red Wings while posting a 1.96 goals-against average.
2. Detroit F Anthony Mantha, who scored his 14th goal Saturday, scored one and set up two others at Toronto on Jan. 1.
3. Marner has 29 points in 27 home games this season.