Tonight at 7:00 p.m. ET, the Carolina Hurricanes (2-2-3) and Toronto Maple Leafs (6-1-0) drop the puck against each other for the first time this season live from the Air Canada Centre in Toronto. The game can be live streamed here. Carolina fans can hear all the action by tuning their dials to 99.9 FM The Fan, while Toronto fans can access it by turning to SportsNet 590 The Fan.
The Maple Leafs come into this game surging, having won six out of their first seven contests while the Hurricanes look to find their scoring touch after a mediocre start to the season. The teams split two meetings against one another last season. Toronto is off to its best start since the 1993-94 season after a 4-1 win over the Minnesota Wild Tuesday, while Carolina dropped all three games in its last homestand, with its most recent loss coming at the hands of the Chicago Blackhawks 3-2 Tuesday.
While the Leafs are off to a hot start, the team is trying to keep things in perspective.
"We understand that 6-1 is just a stat," coach Randy Carlyle told NHL.com Wednesday after practice. "We need to play better."
Joffrey Lupul, Mason Raymond and Phil Kessel have led the charge with eight points each. Lupul has notched five goals and three assists, Raymond has netted four goals and four assists and Kessel has contributed two tallies and six helpers. Leafs young center Nazem Kadri has put up seven points through the first seven games, having scored two goals and five assists, while James van Riemsdyk is tied with Lupul for the team-lead with five goals while adding one assist for six total points.
The Hurricanes are still looking to get some of their big guns going, but after the team fell to a 2-0 hole against Chicago Tuesday, it showed some fight in tying the game before the Blackhawks took it in the shootout, much to the delight of head coach Kirk Muller.
''I really like the way our leaders took charge [Tuesday] and kept everyone composed, and we went out and had a good second and third period, climbed back into it and tied the game," Muller said via NHL.com.
Jeff Skinner has paved the way for the Canes, having put up seven points in seven games on two goals and five assists while Nathan Gerbe has chipped in with three goals and two assists and captain Eric Staal has started to show some signs of life by netting two tallies along with two helpers for a total of four points.
In net, Toronto boasts a potent duo in Jonathan Bernier (4-1-0, 1.75 GAA, .940 save percentage) and James Reimer (2-0-0, 3.18 GAA, .916 save percentage) while Carolina turns to Cam Ward between the pipes, though he's struggled. Ward (0-2-3, 2.98 GAA, .913 save percentage) has had his problems this season, but helped keep the team in it after it went down 2-0 to Chicago Tuesday, though he eventually lost.
Toronto will look to continue its stellar start to the season while Carolina attempts to cool them off when these two teams hit the ice tonight in Toronto.
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