Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Boston Bruins: Gameday

Note: The original piece was written for Sportshaze.com here: http://smurl.name/hc68

The Toronto Maple Leafs return home to the Air Canada Centre to welcome the Boston Bruins. This will be the third meeting of the season between the two clubs as Toronto will look to take the series lead with a win tonight.

The Leafs won the last meeting, defeating the Bruins in a shootout where former Bruin Phil Kessel recorded the shootout winner. Though he got the shootout winner, Kessel is goalless against his former team in eight games.

The Bruins enter this game having lost two in a row as they will look to get on the board early and lock down defensively. Due to this strategic game plan of the Bruins, the Leafs will need to score the game's first goal, as falling behind in the past has proved to be a hassle against the Bruins. 

This is especially true when goalie Tim Thomas is in net for Boston. The Leafs may not be haunted by Thomas tonight, but a former Leaf in Tukka Rask may do likewise, as indications from the Bruins' morning skate point to Tuukka Rask getting the nod in goal. Here are the projected lineups for the Leafs:

First Line: Clarke MacArthur - Mikhail Grabovski - Nikolai Kulemin

Second Line: Joey Crabb - Tyler Bozak - Phil Kessel

Third Line: Kris Versteeg - Darryl Boyce - Colby Armstrong

Fourth Line: Fredrick Sjostrom - Tim Brent - Colton Orr

First D Pair: Francois Beauchemin - Dion Phaneuf

Second D Pair: Tomas Kaberle - Luke Schenn

Third D Pair: Brett Lebda - Mike Komisarek

Goalies: Jonas Gustavsson - James Reimer

Healthy Scratch: Mitchell, Gunnarsson

Bruins:

Darryl Boyce recorded his first National Hockey League goal Saturday night against the Ottawa Senators. He is playing well and is being rewarded with ice time ahead of John Mitchell on the third line. Boyce’s teammate with the Marlies, Joey Crabb, is also playing well right now since getting the call up from the AHL to play with the Leafs. He has impressed coach Ron Wilson with his great all-around play and thus, remains in the top six.

James Reimer posted his first National Hockey League win Saturday night in a 5-1 spanking of the Ottawa Senators where Reimer stopped 32 shots. Despite the win, he will take a backseat to Jonas Gustavsson as he was the first goalie to leave the ice during the morning skate. Usually that means he will start, unless Ron Wilson is planning a mislead like last time.

Defenseman Brett Lebda has really struggled this season and fails to remain in the lineup as he will be a healthy scratch for the fifth straight game.

Maple Leafs goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere participated in a full practice yesterday with the rest of the team as he is eyeing a return to the lineup sometime later this week. Forward Mike Brown is 10-15 days away from a return.

Here are the projected Boston Bruins lineups as per Yahoo:

First Line: Blake Wheeler - David Krejci - Milan Lucic

Second Line: Mark Recchi - Patrice Bergeron - Shawn Thornton

Third Line: Nathan Horton - Marc Savard - Daniel Paille

Fourth Line: Michael Ryder - Tyler Seguin - Greg Campbell

First D Pair: Zdeno Chara - Dennis Seidenberg

Second D Pair: Johnny Boychuk - Andrew Ference

Third D Pair: Steve Kampfer - Adam McQuaid

Goalies: Tuukka Rask  - Tim Thomas

You can watch this game on Rogers Sportsnet Ontario or tune in to AM640 for the radio broadcast. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. Send me your predictions by following me on Twitter: @sh_Leafs

Enjoy the game!