What - Game 71 (44-20-7)
When - 6 p.m., Sunday, March 24
Where - PNC Arena; Raleigh, NC
How to Watch - ESPN+, hulu
The Carolina Hurricanes are back home to take on the Toronto Maple Leafs (40-20-9) tonight at PNC Arena.
Carolina is coming off of a wild 7-6 shootout loss to the Washington Capitals on Friday so they'll be hoping for a more defensively sound game on their part.
Toronto is coming off of a 6-3 win over the Edmonton Oilers and a 7-3 win over the Capitals before that, so the Canes will need to work extra hard to slow down that offense.
The last time these two teams played, less than two weeks ago, the Leafs scored the first three goals off of poor puck play and awareness, so the Canes need to be smarter and more locked in from the jump.
But what this team has proved, is that no matter what, they seem to always have the answer to adversity. And quickly at that.
Streaks
- Seth Jarvis (7g) has scored in six straight games.
- Sebastian Aho (5g, 6a) has points in five consecutive games.
- Martin Necas (1g, 4a) has points in four straight games.
Milestone Watch
- Sebastian Aho is one assist shy of 300 career assists
- Brent Burns is one point shy of 100 points as a Hurricane.
- Dmitry Orlov is two points shy of 300 career points.
- Brett Pesce is two points shy of 200 career points.
- Brady Skjei played in his 600th career game against the Washington Capitals on Friday.
- Sebastian Aho passed Kevin Dineen (542) for the third most points in franchise history on Friday.
Game Notes
- Carolina is 2-0-0 against Toronto this season with a 3-2 win on Dec. 30 and a 5-4 come-from-behind shootout victory on March 16.
- Martin Necas (4g, 10 pts in 10 games) is a point-per-game player against the Leafs.
Key Matchups
Starting Goalies
- Frederik Andersen: 9-1-0; 0.919 Sv%; 2.15 GAA
- Joseph Woll: 10-7-1; 0.909 Sv%; 2.90 GAA
Leading Scorers
- Goals - Sebastian Aho (30) / Auston Matthews (58)
- Points - Sebastian Aho (79) / William Nylander (93)
Power Play
- Carolina - 26.4% (3rd)
- Toronto - 26.1% (4th)
Penalty Kill
- Carolina - 85.1% (2nd)
- Toronto - 76.2% (26th)
Hurricanes Projected Lineup
Jake Guentzel - Sebastian Aho - Seth Jarvis
Teuvo Teravainen - Evgeny Kuznetsov - Martin Necas
Andrei Svechnikov - Jordan Staal - Jordan Martinook
Brendan Lemieux - Jesperi Kotkaniemi - Stefan Noesen
Jaccob Slavin - Brent Burns
Brady Skjei - Brett Pesce
Dmitry Orlov - Jalen Chatfield
Frederik Andersen
Pyotr Kochetkov
Injuries and Scratches: Brendan Lemieux, Tony DeAngelo, Spencer Martin, Jack Drury (LBI), Jesper Fast (undisclosed)
Maple Leafs Projected Lineup
Matthew Knies - Auston Matthews - Max Domi
Bobby McMann - John Tavares - William Nylander
Connor Dewar - David Kampf - Noah Gregor
Nicholas Robertson - Pontus Holmberg - Ryan Reaves
Morgan Rielly - Jake McCabe
Joel Edmundson - Timothy Liljegren
Simon Benoit - Conor Timmins
Joseph Woll
Ilya Samsonov
Injuries and Scratches: TJ Brodie, Noah Chadwick, Mazden Leslie, Cade Webber, Martin Jones, Tyler Bertuzzi (illness), Mark Giordano (concussion), Calle Jarnkrok (hand), John Klingberg (hip), Ilya Lyubushkin (illness), Mitch Marner (ankle)