Huge opportunity for Matthew Knies tonight against the Rangers; Leafs running a defenseman on the wing again tonight

In the regular season finale for the Leafs, Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner return to their usual top-line spot with Michael Bunting - and not a moment too soon, as Matthews will look to eclipse the 300 goal mark in his career while Marner will look to reach the 100 point club for the first time in his. These are two important milestones for arguably the two most important players in Toronto.

After impressing many in his first two games, Matthew Knies appears to be getting a top-six opportunity alongside Ryan O'Reilly and William Nylander as John Tavares was absent from practice for personal reasons. Calle Jarnkrok has been demoted to the third line with Alexander Kerfoot and Noel Acciari while Conor Timmins will suit up on the fourth line for the second game in a row, playing on the wing next to Zach Aston-Reese and David Kampf.

Knies is also getting a massive opportunity, taking line rushes on the Leafs' top power play unit. With Tavares out of the lineup, Knies provides a big body in front of the net who will be hard to push off the puck. He did some excellent work for the University of Minnesota around the net and Sheldon Keefe is hoping that he can do the same with the Leafs tonight, providing some much-needed grease and scoring touch down below the hashmarks.

On the back end, it would seem that Jake McCabe will be getting the night off as he was the seventh defenseman in rushes. Mark Giordano will make his return after resting last game with Matthews and Marner. Erik Gustafsson, who left during the pre-game warmups in Florida, was absent once again, meaning that he's going to be watching from the press box as well.


The Leafs will have a long shot to finish 2nd in the overall league standings tonight, requiring a win in any fashion over the New York Rangers, while also counting on the Carolina Hurricanes to lose in regulation to the Florida Panthers and the Devils losing in any fashion to the Washington Capitals.