The Toronto Maple Leafs (8-5-0) are in Carolina to take on the Hurricanes(7-4-1) (7pm, LeafsTV). Toronto will look to extend their winning stream to 5 games with a win. Toronto is one of — if not the — hottest teams in the league at the moment but face some new obstacles as they try to keep on rolling.
A depleted Toronto Maple Leafs lineup will test the club’s depth and will be without: Joffrey Lupul, James Reimer, Matt Frattin and Carl Gunnarsson. Jussi Rynnas has been called up to back-up Ben Scrivens, who was strong when called in for an injured James Reimer in a 5-2 win over Philadelphia and has brought his numbers back up to a more respectable save percentage of .913 and a goals against average of 2.56. As Scrivens goes, the Leafs go. He has an opportunity to run with the starting job while James Reimer is injured.
Carolina, who beat Toronto 4-1 on February 4th, is playing on the back of 2 wins over New Jersey Devils (4-2) and the New York Islanders (6-4), but lost previously to Philadelphia, a team Toronto dominated just 3 days ago.
Projected lines vs. Hurricanes
Forwards:
van Riemsdyk – Bozak – Kessel
Komarov – Grabovski – Kulemin
MacArthur – Kadri – McClement
McLaren – Steckel – Orr
*Brown
Defence:
Phaneuf – Holzer
Liles – Kostka
Fraser – Franson
Goaltending:
Scrivens
Rynnas
Some notes on injuries from Jonas Siegel.
Mike Brown has been activated off injured reserve, and is seemingly available for action as of today but will not dress against Carolina. Brown missed seven games with a shoulder injury.
Carl Gunnarsson did not travel with the team to Raleigh. Gunnarsson remained in Toronto to visit with an ART (Active Release Technique) specialist receiving a deep tissue massage for his hip injury. “He’s had a couple visits already,” Randy Carlyle said, “shown great improvement.” The 26-year-old has missed the past six games with the nagging injury.
