The context behind the rare 6 p.m. start according to Pierre LeBrun: The Leafs have been afforded the extra hour to fly into Pittsburgh tonight knowing they’ll need to clear customs across the border — not in Toronto — on their first Covid-era southern road trip as a team (the team last traveled to the U.S. for their trip to California in early March 2020). The Leafs’ first international roadie in 20 months will include stops in Pittsburgh, Carolina, and Chicago.
As for tonight’s game in Toronto, we’ll see something we rarely saw the Leafs do over the many years where their backup position was a game of musical chairs and they seemed to lose almost every time in the second game of a back-to-back: they’re giving their backup the more favourable start.