Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Carolina Hurricanes -- Preview, Projected ...
The Kings and Hurricanes are the top two teams in the NHL at five-on-five when it comes to controlling shot attempts, shots, scoring chances, and expected goals. The Leafs are middle of the pack in all of those categories, but their biggest issue of late has been the tendency to make big, untimely mistakes defensively and the dearth of big saves to bail them out.
Carolina has suffered a goaltending crisis of their own this season, with Frederik Andersen (.894 SV%) injured and Antti Raanta (.855 SV%) experiencing his own Ilya Samsonov-style meltdown that inspired a trip to the minors and back. Pyotr Kochetkov is also below .900 this season (.898 SV%) but has rebounded of late with a .931 over his last seven starts (4-1-2).
The Hurricanes enter the game entirely healthy among their player group and have been resting as the Leafs lost their OT battle to Columbus and then flew home from Ohio.
The last time these two teams met last March in Carolina, the Leafs were in the middle of a mediocre stretch of hockey with sagging underlying numbers, and they fell behind 2-0 early in the game. They then flipped a switch and played perhaps their most dominant 40 minutes at five-on-five against an elite opponent of the entire 2022-23 season, but they still lost due to subpar netminding from Matt Murray (which Sheldon Keefe called out after the game). They solved Kochetkov three times, but he still finished with a .932 save percentage after stopping 41 out of 44 shots.
The Leafs will turn to Martin Jones tonight hoping to receive at least competent enough netminding for them to settle in defensively and not play with the mindset that they’ll need five or six goals to win. In a tired situation against a team as structured and hard-working as the Hurricanes under Rod Brind’Amour, the Leafs will likely need one of their best efforts of the season to date to pull a result out of a “schedule loss” situation.
In a back-to-back situation, we may see fresh legs of William Lagesson, Conor Timmins, and/or Pontus Holmberg inserted into the Leafs lineup tonight. Jake McCabe appeared to suffer a minor injury in Columbus last night but remained in the game.
Puck drop: 7:00 p.m. | TV Broadcast Channels: Sportsnet Ontario/West/Pacific, CBC
Game Day QuotesMedia availabilities to come in the early evening due to the back-to-back situation
Head-to-Head Stats: Maple Leafs vs. HurricanesIn the season-to-date statistics, the Hurricanes hold the advantage over the Leafs in four out of five offensive categories and four out of five defensive categories.
Toronto Maple Leafs Projected Lines**In a back-to-back situation, William Lagesson, Conor Timmins, and/or Pontus Holmberg are options but final lines won’t be know until closer to puck drop.
Forwards#23 Matthew Knies – #34 Auston Matthews – #16 Mitch Marner#59 Tyler Bertuzzi – #91 John Tavares – #88 William Nylander#89 Nick Robertson – #11 Max Domi – #19 Calle Jarnkrok#74 Bobby McMann – #64 David Kampf – #18 Noah Gregor
Defensemen#44 Morgan Rielly – #78 TJ Brodie#22 Jake McCabe – #2 Simon Benoit#55 Mark Giordano – #37 Timothy Liljegren
GoaltendersStarter: #31 Martin Jones#35 Ilya Samsonov
Scratched: Conor Timmins, William Lagesson, Pontus HolmbergInjured: John Klingberg, Joseph Woll, Ryan Reaves
Carolina Hurricanes Projected LinesForwards#37 Andrei Svechnikov – #20 Sebastian Aho – #86 Teuvo Teravainen#58 Michael Bunting – #82 Jesperi Kotkaniemi – #88 Martin Necas#48 Jordan Martinook – #11 Jordan Staal – #24 Seth Jarvis#23 Stefan Noesen – #18 Jack Drury – #71 Jseper Fast
Defensemen#74 Jaccob Slavin – #8 Brent Burns#76 Brady Skjei – #22 Brett Pesce#7 Dmitry Orlov – #5 Jalen Chatfield
GoaltendersStarter: #52 Pyotr Kochetkov#32 Antti Raanta
Injured: Frederik Andersen
