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The Toronto Maple Leafs continue their hectic schedule with their final visit to the friendly confines of UBS Arena to take on the New York Islanders on Thursday. The Leafs have won four straight games and are coming off a 7-1 thrashing of the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday and hope to keep pace with Boston and Florida at the top of the Atlantic Division and maintain a four-point lead over Tampa Bay, who occupy the second Eastern Conference wildcard spot.
The Leafs are expected to start Martin Jones once again in goal, with Ilya Samsonov backing up after Dennis Hildeby being sent back to the AHL on Wednesday. The Marlies are playing Belleville on Friday night, so it is possible that the 22-year-old was sent down to get some game action in advance of the weekend back-to-back. It is unknown whether it will be Samsonov or Hildeby who plays on Sunday against Detroit.
It appears that Matthew Knies dodged a bullet, as the Leafs rookie was helped off the ice after suffering a lower-body injury during a drill at Ford Performance Centre on Wednesday. Knies was helped to the ice by teammates, but was alright afterward and on Thursday the 21-year-old skated and said he was good to go against the Isles.
Is the prospect of the Leafs adding Corey Perry to the fold intriguing?? The rumor of that was low-hanging fruit after the veteran winger spoke to NHL commissioner Gary Bettman this week and got the all-clear to sign with another club after his contract was terminated by the Chicago Blackhawks in December.
TSN’s Carlo Colaiacovo reported on his morning show that there is “mutual interest” between the Cup winner and former Hart Trophy winner and the Leafs. The details of what happened for Perry to get booted by Chicago are not public knowledge, but it is hard to imagine him getting the OK from the league if it was something reprehensible.
There have been connections of interest between the 38-year-old and the Leafs in the past and his play as a fourth-liner with Montreal, Dallas, and Tampa Bay in recent years show he would be an improvement, but the addition of Perry would have to be on a league-minimum contract and would likely require clearing salary by possibly waiving Ryan Reaves.
Toronto Maple Leafs Blogger • 
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