Hurricanes at Maple Leafs
Switching head coaches has done little to change the fortunes of the Toronto Maple Leafs, who return home following a disastrous four-game road trip to host the Carolina Hurricanes on Monday. Losers of five of six since Peter Horachek replaced the fired Randy Caryle, Toronto was blanked three times on its four-game trek. "It feels absolutely terrible," captain Dion Phaneuf said. "I don't know what more I can say than when you lose games, when you go through stretches like this, it's awful."
The Maple Leafs were outscored 12-1 on their road trip following Saturday's 3-0 loss at St. Louis that dropped them to 1-7-0 in 2015 and seven points out of the final playoff slot in the Eastern Conference. The Hurricanes are last in the Metropolitan Division and own the second-fewest road wins (five) in the Eastern Conference, but are coming off a 3-2 victory at Ottawa on Saturday. Carolina has won seven of the last nine versus Toronto, including a 4-1 home victory on Dec. 18.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, FSN Carolina, TSN4 (Toronto)
ABOUT THE HURRICANES (15-25-5): After being limited to one goal or fewer 10 times while staggering through a 3-10-1 December, Carolina is showing some life at the offensive end with at least three goals in three of the past five games. Brad Malone, a healthy scratch in Friday's 3-0 loss to Vancouver, was reunited with fourth-line teammates Patrick Dwyer and Jay McClement and scored a goal Saturday. "That's been a real good line for us," coach Bill Peters said. "They're finding their niche, and they're asking and showing that they want more ice time."
ABOUT THE MAPLE LEAFS (22-21-3): A team that feature one of the league's most potent offenses has managed only 28 goals in losing 12 of 15 (3-12-0) while scoring five times in its last seven losses. "As an offensive player you've got to stay confident, stay with it," said forward James van Riemsdyk, who failed to hit the scoresheet on the road trip after amassing 11 points in the previous eight games. "These things happen; I've never quite maybe seen it like this." Toronto is 2-for-21 on the power play in its last seven and 0-for-11 in the past four.
OVERTIME
1. Carolina has not allowed a power-play tally in its last 33 short-handed situations for a franchise-record 13 games.
2. Maple Leafs RW Phil Kessel, who has one goal and one assists in his last eight, has tallied seven times in 31 games versus Carolina.
3. Hurricanes All-Star D Justin Faulk has nine points in 10 games versus Toronto.