Coyotes at Maple Leafs
THE STORY: When it comes to offensive production, the Phoenix
Coyotes find themselves in the middle of the NHL pack - except when they
face the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Coyotes look to continue their
red-hot play against the Maple Leafs when the clubs do battle Tuesday
night at Air Canada Centre. Phoenix has feasted on its Canadian
counterpart in recent years, winning all five encounters since January
2006 while outscoring Toronto 26-11. That includes a 5-1 rout in the
last meeting Jan. 13 in Arizona. Phoenix is coming off an impressive 3-0
whitewash of the San Jose Sharks in the opener of a five-game road
swing. The Coyotes face a Maple Leafs team still looking for consistent
play from its netminder as starter James Reimer remains sidelined with a
concussion. Toronto has dropped three of four overall.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, FS Arizona Plus, Rogers Sportsnet Ontario.
ABOUT THE COYOTES (8-4-3):
Deciding on the NHL's Comeback Player of the Year might be a more
difficult undertaking than first thought. With Edmonton netminder
Nikolai Khabibulin floundering a bit following a red-hot start, the
mantle now belongs to Phoenix goaltender Mike Smith. The one-time
castoff is 7-2-3 with a 2.22 goals against average and is coming off his
first shutout of the season against the Sharks. Smith is 2-0-1 with a
2.59 GAA and .922 save percentage against Toronto.
ABOUT THE MAPLE LEAFS (10-6-1): Toronto's special teams remain far
from special. The Maple Leafs were held without a power-play goal in
five chances in Saturday's 5-2 loss to Ottawa, while going only 1-for-2
on the penalty kill. That side of their game has been particularly
galling so far - Toronto is tied with Winnipeg for the most power-play
goals allowed (18), and its 72.3 percent success rate is easily the
worst in the league.
OVERTIME:
1. Keith Yandle
hasn't seen much of the Maple Leafs, but he seems to love facing them.
The 25-year-old defenseman has one goal, five assists and a plus-five
rating in three career games versus Toronto.
2. Reimer's
goals-against average stands at 2.58 - exactly one goal lower than the
combined GAA of struggling backups Jonas Gustavsson and Ben Scrivens.