Welcome to the NHL On Tap, a daily look at the games on the NHL schedule. There are three games on the schedule for Monday, including one nationally televised in the United States and Canada:
Games of the day
Chicago Blackhawks at Toronto Maple Leafs (7:30 p.m. ET; TVAS, Prime, CHSN)
Auston Matthews is back after missing nine games with an upper-body injury. The Maple Leafs captain had two assists in a 5-3 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday. Mitch Marner will play his 600th NHL game and joins Borje Salming as the second player to have at least 400 assists when playing their 600th game with Toronto (14-7-2). It’s the second of a back-to-back for the Blackhawks (8-14-2), who lost 6-3 at home to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday. Connor Bedard has four points (two goals, two assists) in his past three games for Chicago. Arvid Soderblom is expected to start in goal; he went 2-0-0 with a 1.93 goals-against average and .945 save percentage against the Maple Leafs last season.
New Jersey Devils at New York Rangers (7 p.m. ET; MSGSN, NHLN, MSG)
New York (13-9-1) ended a five-game losing streak with a 4-3 win against the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday. Adam Fox has 20 assists this season, the third time he’s reached that mark in 23 games or fewer (2023-24 and 2021-22). The last Rangers defenseman to reach 20 assists in fewer games was Brian Leetch (19 games in 2000-01). Jesper Bratt is the first player in Devils history to get 30 points in each of his first eight seasons; the 26-year-old forward has 31 (11 goals, 20 assists) in 27 games for New Jersey (16-9-2), which has lost two of its past three. Bratt had a goal and an assist in a 6-5 loss to the Washington Capitals on Saturday.
