Hurricanes aim for road win against a struggling Leafs squad missing Auston Matthews.
What - Game 69 (43-19-6)
When - 7 p.m., Friday, March 20
Where - Scotiabank Arena; Toronto, ON
How to Watch - NHL Network, FanDuel Sports Network South, Sportsnet Ontario, TVAS
The Carolina Hurricanes will look to start their road trip off right with a matchup against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Hurricanes are coming off of a 6-5 overtime win over the Pittsburgh Penguins, a game which featured a lot of back-and-forth action.
The Canes haven't struggled too much with scoring goals this year, ranking third in goals per game (3.47), but they've been a bit more prone to goals against than in prior years.
Toronto on the other hand has struggled in both ends this season giving up the fourth most goals per game while scoring at just a middle of the pack rate.
Things are only going to get tougher for the Maple Leafs too as they are without captain Auston Matthews, who was ruled out for the year following a dirty knee-on-knee hit.
But even without their top scorer, Toronto still has a lot of talented players on their roster, so the Hurricanes are going to have to come out ready to play, else we may see another high-scoring affair.
Streaks
- Nikolaj Ehlers (5a) has points in three straight games.
Milestone Watch
- Taylor Hall is one goal away from 300 career goals.
- Sean Walker is three assists away from 100 career assists.
- Sebastian Aho earned his 700th career point on Wednesday, setting up the OT game-winner against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Game Notes
- Carolina is 1-1-0 against Toronto this season, winning 5-4 on Nov. 9 up in Canada and losing 5-1 on Dec. 4 in Raleigh.
Key Matchups
Projected Starting Goalies
- Brandon Bussi: 25-6-1; 0.896 Sv%; 2.45 GAA
- Anthony Stolarz: 8-9-3; 0.894 Sv%; 3.34 GAA
Leading Scorers
- Goals - Seth Jarvis (28) / William Nylander (23)
- Points - Sebastian Aho (69) / William Nylander (63)
Power Play
- Carolina - 22.2% (12th)
- Toronto - 19.4% (20th)
Penalty Kill
- Carolina - 79.3% (15th)
- Toronto - 83% (4th)
Hurricanes Projected Lineup
Andrei Svechnikov - Sebastian Aho - Seth Jarvis
Taylor Hall - Logan Stankoven - Jackson Blake
Nikolaj Ehlers - Jordan Staal - Jordan Martinook
William Carrier - Mark Jankowski - Eric Robinson
Jaccob Slavin - Jalen Chatfield
K'Andre Miller - Sean Walker
Mike Reilly - Alexander Nikishin
Brandon Bussi
Frederik Andersen
Injuries and Scratches: Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Nicolas Deslauriers, Shayne Gostisbehere (LBI), Pyotr Kochetkov (hip)
Maple Leafs Projected Lineup
Matias Maccelli - John Tavares - William Nylander
Matthew Knies - Max Domi - Easton Cowan
Dakota Joshua - Bo Groulx - Nicholas Robertson
Steven Lorentz - Jacob Quillan - Calle Jarnkrok
Morgan Rielly - Philippe Myers
Jake McCabe - Brandon Carlo
Oliver Ekman-Larsson - Troy Stecher
Anthony Stolarz
Joseph Woll
Injuries and Scratches: Simon Benoit, Auston Matthews (knee), Chris Tanev (abdomen)
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