Two hot teams face-off Thursday night when the Toronto Maple Leafs visit the Carolina Hurricanes.
The Maple Leafs are currently riding a four-game winning streak into Carolina that has seen the team allow two goals or less in each win. The catalyst for the strong defense has been goalie James Reimer who was injured during Toronto's last match against the Flyers. Despite the injury, the Maple Leafs pulled off a 5-2 win that featured goals from Captain Dion Phaneuf, Colton Orr, Matt Frattin, Clark MacArthur, and James van Riemsdyk.
''It feels good for us to contribute and gives us some confidence out there when we can contribute in other ways than just forechecking and fighting and stuff like that,'' Orr said. ''We're just playing a great team game and it was a lot of fun tonight in our building.''
Coach Randy Carlyle added ''It makes everybody feel good and feel good for those guys because they don't get an opportunity in a lot of situations to provide a lot of offence over the year. We just think they're deserving of more minutes and we even tried them on the power play, and that's a reward.''
The Carolina Hurricanes have played well of late as well and have won four of their last five, including two straight. The team came back from a 3-2 deficit on Monday to defeat the New York Islanders 6-4 and followed it up with a 4-2 win over the New Jersey Devils. Jussi Jokinen, Patrick Dwyer, Jiri Tlusty (two goals) were the goal scorers for Carolina while goal Cam War made 26 saves in the victory. During the match, the team lost defenseman Joni Pitkanen. Coach Kirk Muller stated that the team had to change its game plan to accommodate the loss.
"We made a note that we really had to buckle down and try as best as you could to keep things simple," Muller said. "We didn't want to force any plays because bodies were limited, and there was some wear and tear from the lengthy road trip. We kept it simple after we calmed down early in the third and were able to hold on."
This is the second of three meetings between two teams. On Feb. 4, the Hurricanes defeated the Maple Leafs 4-1; it was the last time Toronto lost before its current four game win streak.
Predictions: Toronto Wins 3-2.
Start Time: 7 PM EST
TV: FS-CR