Maple Leafs at Hurricanes
The Toronto Maple Leafs resume their pursuit of a postseason berth when they kick off a three-game road trip with a visit to the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday night. The Maple Leafs have won two in a row following a five-game skid and trail third-place Boston by two points in the Atlantic Division while sitting one point out of the second wild card.
Toronto is trying to avoid a repeat of its last road trip, when it dropped all three in California to cap a five-game slide. The Maple Leafs have lost five of their last six games away from home, but the lone victory in that span was a 4-0 shutout at Carolina on Feb. 19. The Hurricanes' loss to Toronto last month was part of a 12-game tailspin (2-7-3) that provided a crushing blow to their playoff hopes, a swoon that was slowed with a 4-3 win over the New York Rangers on Thursday. “It was a tough challenge against a very good team, and it’s really nice to get a win,” Carolina netminder Cam Ward said after earning his first victory since Feb. 4.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, CBC (Toronto), FSN Carolina, NHL.TV
ABOUT THE MAPLE LEAFS (30-22-14): Defenseman Jake Gardiner, who collected an assist Thursday to match his career high of 24, has scored in both matchups this season versus Carolina and is only one goal shy of tying his career best of 10. Tyler Bozak was a game-time decision against the Flyers, but he scored one goal and set up another. "I thought that was really impressive to tell you the truth," Toronto coach Mike Babcock said. "We didn't know until the last second whether (he) was going or not."
ABOUT THE HURRICANES (27-27-10): Rookie forward Sebastian Aho scored a pair of power-play goals just over three minutes apart in the third period to rally Carolina on Thursday. The 19-year-old from Finland boosted his season total to 20 goals, a strong turnaround after he failed to tally in his first 13 NHL games. "The first 20 games were pretty tough for me, but after that, I got more comfortable and got some confidence," Aho said. "I got used to a smaller rink pretty fast, and after that, I played better."
OVERTIME
1. Bozak has two goals and four assists during a four-game point streak.
2. Carolina has surrendered six power-play goals in five games this month.
3. Maple Leafs F William Nylander tied the franchise rookie record with his ninth power-play goal on Thursday.