Game 13: Hamilton vs Toronto Round 5

Mar 31, 2012; Toronto, ON, Canada; Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Jake Gardiner (51) carries the puck against the Buffalo Sabres at the Air Canada Centre. The Maple Leafs beat the Sabres 4-3. Mandatory Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-US PRESSWIRE

Short recap today before the game, information is largely the same as last night’s preview.

Hamilton is expected to keep with their winning lineup.

On forward, both Quailer-Bournival-Palushaj and Nattinen-Boyce-Avstin were effective scoring lines last night. Blunden-Dumont-Gallagher didn’t create much but did end up giving much back either. 4th line met expectations is that they were bad and no one should of thought they’d be different.

Apparently its Beaulieu’s turn to sit with Nash drawing in to take his place on the offensively oriented pairing. St. Denis and Ellis were solid together as the top pairing, no surprise they remain together. Tinordi looks like he’s really starting to take command of the defensively oriented pairing. Good sign for his future.

Cedric Desjardins was a big help in goal, a steady presence that could be counted on to make saves when needed.

On the other side, Marlies will be without Frattin, who played his first game of the season with Kadri and Colborne. That was Toronto’s best unit so good news for the Bulldogs there.

On the team side the stats are much the same as last night except the Bulldogs made a big leap towards respectable on offense (going up by .4 per game on the strength of their 6 goal outburst. Meanwhile, they pushed Toronto to be a neutral goal differential team after giving them a -3 last night.