Hurricanes at Maple Leafs
THE STORY:
The Carolina Hurricanes caught the Toronto Maple Leafs in one of their
most unforgiving scheduling quirks of the season in their last
encounter. The Maple Leafs will be far more prepared this time around as
they entertain the Hurricanes on Tuesday. Forced to play a back-to-back
that saw them hit the ice in Raleigh less than 16 hours after playing
in Toronto, the Maple Leafs came out flat and stayed that way as the
Hurricanes earned a 3-2 triumph on Nov. 20. Toronto has three days off
since dropping a 4-2 decision to the Washington Capitals, the Leafs'
fourth loss in the last five games. The cold stretch has dropped Toronto
to sixth in the Eastern Conference, barely ahead of a logjam of teams
that includes Buffalo, Montreal and Winnipeg. The Hurricanes would
gladly trade places, still mired in last place in the conference with
only two wins in their last 10 games.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, Fox Sports Carolina, Rogers Sportsnet Ontario
ABOUT THE HURRICANES (9-18-4):
New coach Kirk Muller hasn't had much luck getting his club out of the
doldrums, going only 1-4-1 since taking over for the departed Paul
Maurice. Part of the problem has been in goal, where the club is worst
in the NHL with 108 goals against. Muller remains optimistic he can make
the club a winner again. "Despite the position in the standing, (the
players have) been working hard," he said. "We’ll get this thing turned
around."
ABOUT THE MAPLE LEAFS (15-11-3): Toronto's
abysmal penalty kill hit a low Friday night in Washington, allowing four
power-play goals on six opportunities to hand the game to the Capitals.
That dropped the Maple Leafs' penalty-killing efficiency to 74.3
percent for the season, surpassing only the Columbus Blue Jackets
(73.7). Toronto has surrendered seven goals in its last 15 shorthanded
situations overall.
OVERTIME:
1. Tuesday marks a
return to Toronto for Muller, who spent parts of two seasons with the
club from 1995-1997. The skilled forward had 29 goals and 33 assists in
102 games with the Leafs.
2. Carolina isn't much better on the
penalty kill at 78.7 percent, and ranks 25th in power-play efficiency at
13.1 percent. The Leafs' 21.7 mark ranks them second in the NHL.
3.
Toronto forward Phil Kessel scored twice in defeat against Carolina
last month, but has only five goals in 21 career meetings with the
Hurricanes.