The Lightning are red hot, 7-1-0 in their last eight, but had their winning streak snapped by the Florida Panthers on Sunday. Tampa is well rested, having not played since then. Coming off a miserable performance against those same Florida Panthers, the Leafs will play their 12th game this season as a tired team (in 48 games total, so 25% of their schedule thus far) and enter tonight with a 1-8-2 record in the second game of a back to back.
This midweek back-to-back is the beginning of a second-half schedule heavy on divisional matchups in the Leafs’ final 35 games.