Predators at Maple Leafs
Much has been made of top overall pick Auston Matthews' goal drought, although perhaps such is the case considering the 19-year-old took the NHL by storm after scoring four times in his NHL debut. While saying his nine-game drought is "very frustrating," Matthews admitted his defensive performance has improved as the Toronto Maple Leafs host the Nashville Predators on Tuesday to begin a stretch of three of four at home.
Matthews is not alone as William Nylander is also mired in a nine-game goal drought, although the two join fellow rookie Mitch Marner with a team-high 12 points. The competition only gets tougher for Matthews, Nylander, Marner and the upstart Maple Leafs as Pekka Rinne comes to town. Named the NHL's Third Star of the Week on Monday, Rinne turned aside all 27 shots he faced for his 41st career shutout in Saturday's 5-0 win versus Anaheim to improve to 3-0-0 with a 0.67 goals-against average and .976 save percentage in that stretch. The 34-year-old Finn's torrid stretch has helped pave the way for Nashville, which has won three in a row and is 4-0-2 in its last six.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, FSN Tennessee (Nashville), SNO, TVAS (Toronto)
ABOUT THE PREDATORS (6-5-3): James Neal continued his goal-scoring binge by scoring twice on Saturday, increasing his point total to nine (six goals, three assists) in his last seven games. "Even when we weren't scoring, we knew we had players that were capable of scoring goals," Nashville coach Peter Laviolette said. "Neal has had lots of opportunities since the start of the year, and it's nice to see that they finally (are going) in. Goal-scorers continue to shoot the puck as much as possible because they're good at what they do." Should Neal find the net on Tuesday, the veteran will match his longest goal-scoring streak since a five-game run from Feb. 3-March 1, 2014.
ABOUT THE MAPLE LEAFS (6-6-3): While Matthews and Nylander are singing the blues, Marner and and fellow rookie Zach Hyman have flipped the switch to help Toronto post a 4-2-0 mark in November. Marner has collected four goals and two assists in his last five games and Hyman scored for the second time in as many contests during the Maple Leafs' 4-1 loss to Pittsburgh on Saturday. Frederik Andersen yielded four goals on a season-high 49 shots against the Penguins, but takes a 5-2-0 home mark and a 4-1-0 career record versus Nashville into Tuesday's outing.
OVERTIME
1. Toronto is tied with Philadelphia for recording the most shots per game (32.8) this season, although the Maple Leafs are yielding a league-high 34.3 per contest.
2. Nashville LW Filip Forsberg, who led the team with 33 goals last season, scored his first of 2016-17 on Saturday and is carrying a three-game point streak (one goal, three assists).
3. Toronto has permitted a power-play goal in back-to-back outings after going 14-for-14 on the penalty kill in the previous five.