Wild at Maple Leafs
THE STORY: 45 games into the season and the Toronto Maple Leafs still don’t have a clear-cut number one goaltender. James Reimer is back in the fold after he played his first game since New Year’s Eve on Tuesday. The netminder stopped 18 shots in a 3-2 loss to the Ottawa Senators, which could spark a goaltending controversy with Jonas Gustavsson. Goaltending isn’t the only issue for the Maple Leafs lately. With just four goals in its last three games, Toronto will try to avoid its first four-game losing streak since 2010, when it hoststhe Minnesota Wild at the Air Canada Centre on Thursday. Luckily for the Maple Leafs, the Wild have been atrocious on the road as of late. They’ve lost 10 straight away from home and have been outscored 31-10 during that span.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, FSN-N (Minnesota), TSN (Toronto)
ABOUT THE WILD (22-17-7): The Wild are 2-10-4 since a seven-game win streak from Nov. 28-Dec. 10, and an 11th consecutive road loss would match the team's longest run since Nov. 20, 2006 to Jan. 9, 2007. To make matters worse, they’ll be without captain and leading scorer Mikko Koivu, who suffered a shoulder injury on Saturday in a game against St. Louis. Minnesota is 0-4-1 when he isn’t in the lineup this season.
ABOUT THE MAPLE LEAFS (22-18-5): Ron Wilson has severed his top line in an attempt to boost the offence. Joffrey Lupul has been bumped to the second line to play with Tim Connolly and Nazem Kadri, while Kessel was skating with Tyler Bozak and Matthew Lombardi during practice on Wednesday. Kessel has failed to score in four games while Lupul has just one point in his previous four contests.
OVERTIME:
1. The Wild are averaging a meagre 2.2 goals per game - 2nd worst in the NHL
2. James Reimer stopped 29 shots and earned his third career shutout the last time these teams met on March 22, 2011.
3. The Maple Leafs lead the all-time series 6-3-0.