The Maple Leafs have an opportunity to clinch the Atlantic Division title with a result in Carolina plus a little help elsewhere, but it starts with earning at least a point in a tired situation vs. the best home team in the Eastern Conference (5:00 p.m. EST, Sportsnet Ontario).
Tonight’s clinching scenarios, as the Leafs chase down their first regular-season division title in a full NHL season since 1999-2000:
The Maple Leafs can officially clinch the Atlantic Division if Tampa loses in regulation to Buffalo + Toronto earns at least a point in Carolina
OR
Tampa loses in overtime or shootout + Toronto wins (including OT or shootout).
Game Day Quotes
Craig Berube on the challenge presented by the Hurricanes:
They’re a good team at home. They’ve got a great home record (31-8-1). More than anything, they play a very predictable game. They’re in your face. There is not much room out there when you play the Hurricanes.
They are a lot of attempts going at your net from everywhere. Their D are very active and shoot a ton of pucks.
You have to fight for your space tonight. It is going to be a grind.
Berube on the expectations for defenseman Dakota Mermis in his season debut:
Steady defenseman back there. Simple moving the puck. He competes hard. He just has to manage the game tonight, get involved, get physical, win his battles, and simplify with the puck.
Berube on the takeaways from the team’s performance vs. Montreal:
We talked before the game about not giving them time and space. We took it away from them from the offensive zone out. We reloaded hard. We did a good job in the neutral zone of not giving them anything.
We did a great job on our breakouts. They dumped a lot of pucks in because they had to, and I thought we broke the puck out well.
Berube on whether he will be scoreboard watching the Lightning-Sabres score during the game:
I don’t look at the scoreboard out there. Never. I didn’t even think about it. I’ll just focus on our game.
Brandon Carlo on the team not allowing a goal against despite icing five defensemen vs. Montreal:
The group has done a good job as a whole of embracing the challenges that we face. The forwards did a great job of playing in behind them, creating, and allowing us to get our changes. That was huge.
As a whole we were good defensively. The forwards did a good job coming back into the d-zone and not allowing them to create much through the middle of the ice.
The goaltending we have behind us is pretty incredible with both guys. We are keeping shots to the outside as much as possible, and we should find success that way.
Head-to-Head Stats: Maple Leafs (49-26-4) vs. Hurricanes (47-27-5)
In the 2024-25 regular season statistics, Carolina holds the advantage in three out of five offensive categories and three out of five defensive categories.
Toronto Maple Leafs Projected Lines
Forwards
#23 Matthew Knies — #34 Auston Matthews — #16 Mitch Marner
#11 Max Domi — #91 John Tavares — #88 William Nylander
#74 Bobby McMann — #29 Pontus Holmberg — #89 Nick Robertson
#18 Steven Lorentz — #24 Scott Laughton — #19 Calle Jarnkrok
Defensemen
#44 Morgan Rielly — #51 Philippe Myers
#2 Simon Benoit — #8 Chris Tanev
#36 Dakota Mermis — #25 Brandon Carlo
Goaltenders
Starter: #60 Joseph Woll
#41 Anthony Stolarz
Injured: Jake McCabe, David Kampf, Oliver Ekman-Larsson
Injured (LTIR): Jani Hakanpää, Max Pacioretty
Carolina Hurricanes Projected Lines
Forwards
#24 Seth Jarvis — #20 Sebastian Aho — #53 Jackson Blake
#71 Taylor Hall — #98 Jack Roslovic — #37 Andrei Svechnikov
#28 William Carrier— #11 Jordan Staal — #22 Logan Stankoven
#27 Tyson Jost — #77 Mark Jankowski — #50 Eric Robinson
Defensemen
#74 Jaccob Slavin — #8 Brent Burns
#7 Dmitry Orlov — #5 Jalen Chatfield
#26 Sean Walker — #56 Scott Morrow
Goaltenders
Starter: #31 Frederik Andersen
#52 Pyotr Kochetkov
Injured: Jesper Fast, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Shayne Gostisbehere
