The league’s hottest team pays a visit to its coldest tonight in Carolina.
The two teams are riding opposite streaks, the Leafs winners of six straight and the Hurricanes losers of six consecutive.
With Alex Semin, Jiri Tlusty and Jordan Staal out hurt, the Hurricanes lineup looks positively destitute. Their leading scorer is defenceman Justin Faulk with 17 points.
The Leafs, currently scoring for fun; the top line has scored more than the Hurricanes’ entire forward lineup combined. A combination of a lack of talent and a series of injuries to the talent the Hurricanes do have has them firmly in the McDavid sweepstakes with 19 points through 30 games.
It’s a game that screams trap and there’s the obvious risk of taking a lowly opponent too lightly. The Maple Leafs have been guilty of feeding starving offensive teams a couple of times this season — the Sabres were scoring just 1.2 goals a game before a 6-2 win over the Leafs, followed by the typically low-scoring Predators lighting the Leafs up for nine the next game. The Devils can’t score, either, but it didn’t stop them from putting five past the Leafs. Something they need to be cognizant of entering a game like tonight’s.
[quote_box_right]“They’re a deep team and they score a lot of goals. They’re explosive. They don’t need many touches in the offensive zone to score.”
– Hurricanes head coach Bill Peters on the Leafs[/quote_box_right]
There’s also a parallel to last season here that can serve as a cautionary tale: The Leafs beat the Kings and Ducks amid their hottest streak of 2013-14, and proceeded to lose to a struggling Capitals team, the start of their epic collapse. Win streaks can’t last forever and a loss on a weekday visit to Carolina in game 32 of the season wouldn’t be the end of the world, but it’s funny how quickly good wins over good teams can be erased by bad losses to bad teams. Hopefully the Leafs stay hungry, step on the throat of a floundering opponent and collect the ‘should-win’ points tonight.
Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Carolina Hurricanes - Head to Head
| Head to Head: | Maple Leafs | Hurricanes |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 19-9-3 (.661% - 10th) | 11-14-5 (.317 - 30th) |
| Goal Differential | +22 (5th) | -25 (27th) |
| PP | 21.0% (10th) | 18.4% (15th) |
| PK | 84.0 (9th) | 82.7% (15th) |
| GF/G | 3.45 (1st) | 2.07 (28th) |
| GA/G | 2.77 (20th) | 2.83 (22nd) |
| SF/G | 30.3 (15th) | 31.0 (9th) |
| SA/G | 33.6 (26th) | 27.8 (5th) |
| 5v5 SF/G | 28.5 (19th) | 28.8 (15th) |
| 5v5 SA/G | 32.6 (27th) | 26.9 (3rd) |
| 5v5 CF% | 45.5% (27th) | 52.3% (9th) |
| 5v5 FF% | 46.2% (27th) | 51.9% (9th) |
| 5v5 Sh% | 9.50% (2nd) | 6.13% (30th) |
| 5v5 Sv% | 92.53% (14th) | 90.30% (29th) |
| FO% | 50.3% (15th) | 51.5% (2nd) |
PK=Penalty Kill %
GF/G=Goals for per game
GA/G=Goals against per game
SF/G=Shots for per game
SA/G=Shots against per game
Sh%=Shooting %
Sv%=Save percentage
F0%=Faceoff percentage
CF%=Corsi for % (shot attempts: shots, blocked shots, missed shots)
FF%=Fenwick for% (shots+missed shots)
Toronto Maple Leafs Projected Lineup
James van Riemsdyk – Tyler Bozak – Phil Kessel
(13-15-28) – (12-15-27) – (17-17-34) (42G, 89PTS TOT)
Daniel Winnik – Nazem Kadri – Mike Santorelli
(1-12-13) – (9-11-20) – (6-16-22) (16G, 55PTS TOT)
Joffrey Lupul – Peter Holland – David Clarkson
(7-5-12) – (7-6-13) – (8-3-11) (22G, 36PTS TOT)
David Booth – Trevor Smith – Richard Panik
(1-1-2) – (0-2-2) – (6-1-7) (7G, 11PTS TOT)
Dion Phaneuf – Cody Franson
(1-15-16) – (5-14-19) (6G, 35PTS TOT)
Morgan Rielly – Stephane Robidas
(4-6-10) – (0-4-4) (4G, 14PTS TOT)
Jake Gardiner – Roman Polak
(2-6-8) – (3-2-5) (5G, 13PTS TOT)
Jonathan Bernier
(13-6-3, 2.53GAA, .922SV%)
James Reimer
Scratched: Korbinian Holzer
Injured: Leo Komarov (concussion)
Carolina Hurricanes Projected Lineup
Nathan Gerbe – Eric Staal – Chris Terry
(3-7-10) – (7-9-16) – (4-3-7) (14G, 33PTS TOT)
Jeff Skinner – Victor Rask – Elias Lindholm
(7-8-15) – (4-5-9) – (7-6-13) (18G, 37PTS TOT)
Zach Boychuk – Riley Nash – Patrick Dwyer
(3-2-5) – (4-12-16) – (2-0-2) (9G, 23PTS TOT)
Brad Malone – Jay McClement – Justin Shugg
(0-0-0) – (1-4-5) – (0-0-0) (1G, 5PTS TOT)
Andrej Sekera – Justin Faulk
(0-10-10) – (5-12-17) (5G, 27PTS TOT)
Tim Gleason – Brett Bellemore
(1-4-5) -(0-3-3) (1G, 8PTS TOT)
Ron Hainsey – Michal Jordan
(0-2-2) – (0-0-0) (0G, 2PTS TOT)
Cam Ward
(8-12-1, 2.54GAA, .907SV%)
Anton Khudobin
Injured: Jordan Staal (leg), Alexander Semin (lower body), Andrej Nestrasil (upper body), Jiri Tlusty (upper body), John-Michael Liles (upper body)
