LGD: Hurricane Matthews
7 years ago
Photo Credit: John E. Sokolowski/USA TODAY SPORTS
The Toronto Maple Leafs and the Carolina Hurricanes face off in a Tuesday night showdown at the Air Canada Centre. This has the components of an interesting game; here’s what you can expect to go down.
The Leafs
Toronto Maple Leafs lines courtesy of Daily Faceoff
| LW | C | RW |
|---|---|---|
 Zach Hyman |  Auston Matthews |  William Nylander |
 James van Riemsdyk |  Tyler Bozak |  Mitchell Marner |
 Leo Komarov |  Nazem Kadri |  Connor Brown |
 Matt Martin |  Ben Smith |  Nikita Soshnikov |
| Defensive Pairings | |
|---|---|
 Morgan Rielly |  Nikita Zaitsev |
 Matt Hunwick |  Roman Polak |
 Jake Gardiner |  Connor Carrick |
Basically the same combos as the last few games. Babs is really locked in, which in some cases (Smith, Hunlak) is a little confusing, but it’s hard to complain about the other two defensive pairings and the Top 9 right now.
The Hurricanes
Carolina Hurricanes lines courtesy of Daily Faceoff
| LW | C | RW |
|---|---|---|
 Teuvo Teravainen |  Jordan Staal |  Sebastian Aho |
 Jeff Skinner |  Victor Rask |  Elias Lindholm |
 Brock McGinn |  Derek Ryan |  Lee Stempniak |
 Joakim Nordstrom |  Jay McClement |  Viktor Stalberg |
| Defensive Pairings | |
|---|---|
 Ron Hainsey |  Justin Faulk |
 Jaccob Slavin |  Brett Pesce |
 Noah Hanifin |  Matt Tennyson |
The Hurricanes have a really interesting team moving forward. Players like Hanifin, Rask, and Lindholm have been big name prospects for a decent amount of time now, Sebastian Aho’s hype train has blown up over the past year, and it’s not like Jeff Skinner and Teuvo Teravainen can’t help things along. I also find it hilarious that
Starting Goaltenders
Frederik Andersen starts in goal for the Leafs. Not surprising; he’s been on a roll of late. He once again looked good against the Habs and with a few nights off, should be well-rested enough to have another go at things today. Saturday’s performance brings him closer to the league average in save percentage after his horrible start; 0.908 over 16 games is pretty decent with all things considered.
Cam Ward is in goal for the Hurricanes today. It’s been a while since the Saskatoon native has been “actually good”; 2011/12 was the last time he even put up average numbers, but he’s been less-than-terrible this year and has decidedly taken the wheel from Eddie Lack, who is struggling once again.
What To Look Out For
I never have much time to say positive things about the Hunwick-Polak pairing, but I really do wonder how they approach tonight’s game. Carolina is the definition of a neutral zone team, who rely on controlled carries to establish an offensive presence. Neither of those two are the type to try to suffocate the play at centre and will wait for it to come to them; that might mean they bleed out a bit more than usual tonight. The same goes for the fourth line; guys like Martin and Smith will have to rely on positioning rather than attempting to gain the puck off a hit during a dump-and-chase.
Also, Auston is ending the streak tonight. Puck drop is at 7:00 PM. You can catch the game on TSN.
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