While everyone is focused on the Toronto Maple Leafs visiting the Bell Centre, the Bulldogs are focused on hosting the Leafs AHL affiliate, the Toronto Marlies.
And if you think this game doesn’t mean much now that the NHL is back, tell that to the fans, tonight’s game is sold out. Though many tickets may have been bought before the lockout ended.
So far this season the Bulldogs record against the Marlies is 3-4-1, but when the Marlies visit Copps Coliseum the Bulldogs are a much better, 3-0-1. Of course these records mean very little as a lot has changed in the AHL. The Marlies are without a few of their top players. Nazem Kadri, Mike Kostka, Jake Gardiner, Korbinian Holzer, Keith Aucoin and Ben Scrivens stuck with the Leafs.
Losing those guys means the Marlies are without the AHL’s 6th leading scorer (Aucoin) 15th (Kostka) 58th (Kadri).
The Bulldogs are without Brendan Gallagher and Mike Blunden, meaning, they have not lost as much as the Marlies. Even though the Marlies are without a large number of players, they still have AHL Veteran Ryan Hamilton who sits 61st overall in the AHL scoring race. They also have Tim Connolly, a NHL veteran of 697 games with 431 points in the NHL.
Comparatively, the Bulldogs top scorer, Gabriel Dumont, barely cracks the top 100 sitting as the 94th leading scorer in the AHL.
Puck drop is 7pm.
