Stars at Maple Leafs
The Toronto Maple Leafs took to extend their franchise-record home winning streak to 11 games when they host the struggling Dallas Stars on Wednesday night. The Maple Leafs snapped a four-game slide overall (0-2-2) with a 5-2 victory over visiting Pittsburgh on Saturday at the Air Canada Centre to continue their run and keep hopes alive for home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
“You want to be known around the league as a tough building to come into,” Toronto center Nazem Kadri told reporters after notching his third goal in three games. “We’ve done a good job here and hopefully that continues.” The Maple Leafs will need a big finish to catch Boston or Tampa Bay in the Atlantic Division and it starts with a tough matchup against the Stars, who own only two wins in their last seven games (2-3-2) after a 4-2 loss at Montreal on Tuesday. Dallas put up 38 shots on net Tuesday, but gave up three power-play tallies in the loss to drop into a virtual tie with Colorado for the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference with only a two-point cushion on ninth place. The Stars, who are 0-2 on a six-game trip, have scored only seven goals over the last five contests and could be without No. 1 goalie Ben Bishop (lower-body) for a sixth straight contest - although he has been skating.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, TVA, Sportsnet (Toronto), FS Southwest (Dallas)
ABOUT THE STARS (38-26-6): Center Tyler Seguin was kept off the scoresheet Tuesday despite registering seven shots, but has recorded seven of his team-best 36 goals and seven assists in the last 10 games to lead Dallas with 65 points. Captain Jamie Benn scored his 24th goal and fellow forward Alexander Radulov added an assist in his 300th NHL contest to remain tied for second on the team with 61 points. John Klingberg has managed only three points - all on assists - in the last 11 games, but still leads all defensemen in the league with 57 points.
ABOUT THE MAPLE LEAFS (40-22-7): All-Star Auston Matthews (upper-body) is closing in on a return after missing the last six games, while defensemen Nikita Zaitsev and Travis Dermott are questionable because of illness. Forward Mitch Marner continues to carry a lot of the offensive load and leads the team with 56 points after notching a goal in each of the last two games to match his rookie total (19). Toronto recalled forward Andreas Johnsson from the AHL and could make his NHL debut on a line with Kasperi Kapanen along with Tomas Plekanec.
OVERTIME
1. Dallas C Radek Faksa snapped a 19-game goal drought Tuesday with his career-high 13th of the season.
2. Toronto F William Nylander has gone 11 games without a goal, but registered five assists in that span.
3. The Maple Leafs won the only other matchup 4-1 on Jan. 25 as Kadri scored twice and D Jake Gardiner notched three assists.