Carolina Hurricanes: Three Keys to Victory in Toronto vs. Maple Leafs
The Carolina Hurricanes head to Toronto tonight to take on the Maple Leafs after a disappointing home loss to the New York Rangers. Here’s what the Canes need to do to get back on track.
Last night sucked, but today is a new day. The Carolina Hurricanes are going to have to regroup tonight in Toronto in a big way if they want to win tonight.
Tonight’s matchup is sure to be a crazy one; the Carolina Hurricanes are coming off a bad loss, and the Toronto Maple Leafs are coming off of two days of rest after shutting out the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-0. Yippee.
The last time these teams met, the Canes lost by a score of 8-6 in one of the most insane games of the season.
Hopefully tonight’s matchup is a little bit different than that one, and goes the other way. In any case, there are several things the Carolina Hurricanes need to get done if they hope to stop the skid before it happens and snatch a couple points away from Toronto.
Let’s dive in, shall we?
1. Short-Term Memory
Last night was about as big a dud as you’re going to see this season.
Losing sucks, everybody knows that. Losing has a way of sticking with you, sometimes for days. Especially if that loss was to a team that has traditionally had your number.
Tonight, the Carolina Hurricanes are going to need to shake it off, regroup, and do their best to forget about it and recover their game.
As I said before, the Toronto Maple Leafs are coming off of two days of rest after shutting out one of the better teams in the Metropolitan Division, and even the Eastern Conference in the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Honestly, anything can happen on any given night. The best thing to do is wash your hands of last night’s performance, and do your best to put it behind you to face the opponent in front of you.
2. Depth Scoring
Can we please get some scoring from someone not named Andrei Svechnikov, Sebastian Aho, or Teuvo Teravainen, please?
I’m practically begging at this point.
Nino Niederreiter looked like he was picking back up where he left off last season, but hasn’t fully taken off yet. Erik Haula has been solid some nights, but invisible other nights. Same with Ryan Dzingel, Warren Foegele, and Justin Williams.
We absolutely need these lower lines to step up and start putting the puck in the back of the net, especially against teams like the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Leafs don’t really have any semblance of a solid defensive corps, so maybe that starts tonight. Only time will tell.
3. Reim Time
Ok, so I know both goalies for the Carolina Hurricanes have been solid, but I am of the opinion that James Reimer is our true starter at this point. You’re not going to be able to change my mind on that, so don’t even try.
Petr Mrazek isn’t as terrible as Canes fb tells you he is, but he can be way too aggressive at times, causing him to be wildly out of position (or even out of the goal crease entirely, as we saw last night).
Reimer is nowhere near perfect, but he has been far more clutch and consistent than Mrazek has this season.
No official word has been put out about lineups at the time of writing this article, but I believe Reimer will start tonight, seeing as how we’re on the tail-end of a back-to-back, but I will be very surprised if he doesn’t get the lion’s share of starts from here on out.
Again, only time will tell, but look for James Reimer to be a huge difference-maker in tonight’s game. Bank on it.
- Puck Drop:
- Location:
- TV:
- Radio:
- Uniforms:
- Potential Lineup:
- Svechnikov – Aho – Teravainen
- Foegele – Staal – Williams
- Niederreiter – Haula – Necas
- Dzingel – Wallmark – McGinn
- Slavin – van Riemsdyk
- Gardiner – Pesce
- Fleury – Edmundson
- Potential Goalie Matchup:
- Carolina Hurricanes: James Reimer
- Toronto Maple Leafs: Frederik Andersen
Prediction. 4. 109. 3. 116