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Puck Drop: 7:30 p.m. EST  |  Arena: PNC Arena  |  TV: TSN4  |  Radio: SN 590


Game Day Quotes

Mike Babcock on the increase in lineup changes this season versus last:

I don’t know if the lines were that steady last year or not. We’re just trying to find a way to win games, I wouldn’t spend much time evaluating. If it’s going real good, we don’t change. Matty was out for a while – we won a whole bunch of games – Matty came back and we’ve moved him around because we haven’t got her going since. I mean, Luongo was very, very, very good [on Wednesday].

Marleau is playing way more centre on the road than he is at home. At home, I match him up each night, on the road it gives me a deeper look so I can handle the matchups better.

Babcock on William Nylander’s offensive struggles of late:

Well, I thought Willy was outstanding [on Wednesday]. I thought it was Willy’s best game in a long time. Willy’s ready to break loose. To me, when it doesn’t go, it doesn’t go. I thought that line – Bozak,Van Riemsdyk, and Willie – dominated, especially the third period I thought they were very good. I was very impressed with them.

Babcock on the Auston Matthews line’s most recent performance:

If you like to have the puck, there’s no better guy in the world to play with than [Hyman]. He just gets it for you all the time. I thought Mitchy was skating. Mitchy’s been coming anyway and I thought he was skating. Mitchy’s going to have to shoot the puck if he plays with those guys a bit, too, and he doesn’t like doing that.

Hurricanes head coach Bill Peters on whether the two teams will take anything away from the last meeting, a 6-3 Carolina win:

We’ll take a little bit out of it – head-to-heads and things like that. But things have changed a lot since then. Both teams are a little bit different. We’ll use head to head clips in our meeting tonight, but our lineup is different and I’m sure they’ve made some changes also.

Peters on whether it will be a matchup chess match against Babcock tonight:

We’re just going to play. It’s going to be too fast, I think, to get matchups. It’s only a matchup game when the game is slow and there are lots of whistles and you’re matching off line changes off of whistles. I don’t anticipate that happening a whole bunch tonight.

Peters on his former player and now-Leaf, Ron Hainsey:

His size, reach, and skating ability. He’s a big man. Real good reach and a good penalty killer because of that combination of those three attributes. He’s a veteran guy who knows how to play. He knows that once you’ve been seamed once, he’s not going to run around. He’s going to pick that seam pass coming off going against the grain. His experience and his size and length makes him hard to play against.

Veteran guy. Real good with the young guys in my opinion. Good guy in the room. Been around, seen lots in his time around the league. Real good experience going to Pittsburgh and winning the Cup. That only makes him better and more confident. Just a real good veteran player doing a good job for Toronto.

Peters on the increase in scoring and the pace of the modern game:

It’s puck-moving ability and d-zone transition and the ability for the D to get it up to the forwards on and off their stick. It’s not so much skating with it. Maybe you beat the first guy with your feet, but you trap the next guy with the pass. It’s real fast right now. You’ll see the shot totals are up and the goal totals are up across the league. It’s because of the transition game. It’s hard to establish a forecheck on guys that are good skaters. When you got a d-core that is mobile, it’s hard to get them pinned and hemmed in. To me, that’s the modern game coming out of the lockout and the way the game is going. You use all of these sub six-foot guys that are going in the first round that are D, right? There’s more and more as we go.

Zach Hyman on being pulled by the concussion spotter:

Yeah, I fell on my shoulder, but I watched the clip and it looks like I hit my head pretty hard. Feeling it, I definitely didn’t hit my head. It’s good, though. I think it’s important for the league to recognize that and when you see a player that has a potential for a concussion, you’re going to pull them because often times players aren’t going to pull themselves.


Matchup Stats

TORCAR
Record14-8-19-7-4
GF/g3.48 (4th)2.85 (18th)
GA/g2.96 (18th)2.85 (11th)
PP%21.9% (10th)
15.7% (27th)
PK%80.8% (14th)70.6% (16th)
Shots/g31.1 (15th)35.3 (3rd)
Shots Against/g33.4 (26th)29.1 (3rd)
5v5 CF%50.64% (13th)55.14% (1st)
5v5 SV%.923 (15th).915 (23rd)
5v5 SH%10.1% (1st)7.4% (20th)

Toronto Maple Leafs Leafs Projected Lineup

Forwards
Hyman – Matthews – Marner
Soshnikov – Kadri – Komarov
van Riemsdyk – Bozak – Nylander
Leivo – Marleau – Brown

Defencemen
Rielly – Hainsey
Gardiner – Zaitsev
Borgman – Carrick

Goaltenders
Andersen
McElhinney

Scratched: Moore, Martin, Polak


Carolina Hurricanes Projected Lineup

Forwards
Aho – Staal – Teravainen
McGinn – Rask – Lindholm
Skinner – Ryan– Williams
Nordstom – Kruger – Di Giuseppe

Defencemen
Slavin – Pesce
Fleury – Faulk
Hanifin – Van Riemsdyk

Goaltenders
Ward
Darling

Injured: Stempniak