The Toronto Maple Leafs are riding a five-game losing streak heading into Tuesday's matchup with the St Louis Blues. They have already suffered a cavalcade of injuries, with Auston Matthews, Chris Tanev, and Brandon Carlo among those out of the lineup. The Maple Leafs have another injury to their forward core impacting their lineup, as Matthew Knies will miss Tuesday's game with a lower-body injury.
“The Leafs will be without Matthew Knies tonight due to a lower-body injury. He joins a list of injured teammates that includes Auston Matthews, Nicolas Roy, Scott Laughton, Chris Tanev, Brandon Carlo, and Anthony Stolarz,” Chris Johnston of The Athletic reported.
The Maple Leafs are now 8-9-2 after losing each of their last five games, four of which ended in regulation. Despite keeping the games close, with three one-goal losses and two two-goal losses, Toronto cannot finish games off. Without Knies, who has 22 points in 19 games, the offense will get even tougher.
The Maple Leafs have struggled defensively, in part because of the injuries. Without Carlo, Tanev, and starting goalie Anthony Stolarz, Toronto has allowed at least three goals in the last seven games. The Blues are a great team to get right against defensively, as they rank 26th in goals scored this year.
Knies is the young star on the Maple Leafs, at just 23 years old and with a 29-goal season already in the bag. The 30-goal expectations were loud coming into this season, especially after the loss of Mitch Marner in free agency. With just five goals so far, the scoring touch has not been there. But his assist total has him near a 95-point pace to start the season.
Can the Maple Leafs beat the Blues without so many of their good players? Or will it be a sixth consecutive loss, turning up the volume in Toronto?
