2022-23 Regular Season, Game 12: Hurricanes v. Toronto Maple Leafs

After a sluggish start to the game, the Canes completed their back-to-back on Friday night with a 5-3 victory over Buffalo that really could be described as dominant for the final two periods. The effort was led by the same three-headed monster that seems to be in the middle of everything lately. Sebastian Aho scored his fifth career hat trick with two goals in the first period and an empty-netter to put things away, also adding a beautiful assist in the second. Martin Necas was the benefactor of that assist from Aho and he also had two assists. Andrei Svechnikov, Teuvo Teravainen, and Seth Jarvis all collected two assists, while Jesperi Kotkaniemi scored his first goal of the season. Antti Raanta played a solid game between the pipes, earning his third win of the season as he remains without a regulation loss to begin the season. The win was the Canes' fourth in a row and the first that didn't require overtime or a shootout during that stretch. They'll remain at home for today's game, the first time they're playing consecutive home games this season. It's always interesting when the Canes and Maple Leafs get together. There was a stretch of games where it just felt like every meeting was a circus. With today's meeting taking place on ESPN and given the Canes' history of interesting games on national television, I expect today to be nothing different in Rod Brind'Amour's 300th game as an NHL head coach. 

Projected Lines/Pairs

Teuvo Teravainen-Sebastian Aho-Seth Jarvis

Andrei Svechnikov-Jesperi Kotkaniemi-Martin Necas

Jordan Martinook-Jordan Staal-Jesper Fast

Stefan Noesen-Paul Stastny-Derek Stepan

Jaccob Slavin-Brent Burns

Brady Skjei-Brett Pesce

Calvin de Haan-Jalen Chatfield

Frederik Andersen

Antti Raanta

Extras- Ondrej Kase (concussion protocol), Dylan Coghlan (healthy)

If the lineup is working, don't change it. The Canes will have the same 18 skaters that they've had for the last few games with Dylan Coghlan serving as the healthy scratch. Frederik Andersen will be making his eighth start of the season as he stares down his former teammates. He last played on Thursday night in the shootout victory over the Lightning. 

Today's Opponent: Toronto Maple Leafs (6-4-2, 14 Points, 5th in the Atlantic Division)

After a rough start to the season, featuring losses to Arizona, San Jose, and Anaheim, the Maple Leafs seem to be turning a page of late. Following four straight losses, Toronto has back-to-back wins over Philadelphia and Boston. John Tavares scored a hat trick in their win over the Flyers on Wednesday night, holding the team lead with seven goals and 14 points. This will be the second half of a back-to-back for them after beating Boston at home last night. Auston Matthews scored both of Toronto's goals, his fifth and sixth of the season, and Mitch Marner assisted on both goals, his team-leading tenth and eleventh assists. Just like they have been in recent years, it seems like five guys are really carrying the entire load. I've already noted the starts for Tavares, Matthews, and Marner. William Nylander has been one of their most consistent players to begin the season, sitting with 12 points. Morgan Reilly has been their anchor on defense with nine points, all assists. The real news from their win over the Bruins, other than halting Boston's win streak, was the injury to Ilya Samsonov. He left the game after the second period with an apparent knee injury, forcing Erik Kallgren into action. With Matt Murray already injured, this left them with no backup goalie under contract. They've since signed an AHL goalie to serve as the backup tonight. It just doesn't seem like they can catch a break in the goaltending department. 

Last Season v. Carolina- Slowing down the Leafs essentially means slowing down the five players listed above. The Canes really only did that effectively once in three meetings last season. That might explain why they only beat them once. The lone win came in the fifth game of the season in Raleigh. After Matthews scored the lone goal in the first period, the Canes scored three times on Jack Campbell in the second period and Andrei Svechnikov added the empty-net goal to win 4-1. The final two meetings were in Toronto. In early February, the Leafs erased a 3-2 deficit late with Marner scoring the tying goal, then winning it in overtime. Marner finished with three points. Matthews scored twice. Reilly and Tavares had two assists each. Nylander had an assist. The only other player to record a point that night was Timothy Liljegren, who had the lone assist on the game-tying goal. Toronto clinched the season series over a month later with a 3-2 win without Matthews in the lineup. 

Toronto's Starting Goalie: Erik Kallgren- Regardless of the injury to Samsonov, I think Kallgren was going to play today. He's yet to win a game this season in four appearances, sitting at 0-1-2 with some poor numbers overall. He did face the Canes once last season, stopping 32 shots in Toronto's 3-2 win in the final meeting of the season. Before his relief appearance last night, his last start was a week ago, a 4-3 loss in overtime to the Ducks. 

Toronto Player to Watch: Michael Bunting- To put one of the stars here would be pointless since I've already mentioned them a thousand times. Instead, I want to keep an eye on a guy that has gotten off to a slow start. A year after leading rookies in scoring and finishing third in Calder voting, Bunting has just two goals and six points. He's bounced up and down the lineup trying to make something work, but it hasn't clicked yet. He did get an assist last night, ending a five-game pointless drought, so it could be a good sign for him. 

Scoring Summary

1st Period

(CAR) 8:11- Stefan Noesen (2) PP (assisted by Andrei Svechnikov (6) & Brent Burns (7))

2nd Period

(TOR) 18:30- Calle Jarnkrok (3) (assisted by Pierre Engvall (1) & Justin Holl (1))

3rd Period

(TOR) 8:24- John Tavares (8) (assisted by Mitch Marner (12) & Nick Robertson (3))

(TOR) 16:25- Williams Nylander (5) (assisted by Auston Matthews (7))

Let's Talk About the Game

Despite the final score, the Canes were the better team for the majority of the 60 minutes. It all comes down to a few plays they weren't able to make defensively, especially on the two goals in the third period. They played a nearly perfect first period and they scored the game's opening goal on the power play. Jordan Martinook draws a cross-check from Justin Holl and it didn't take long for the Canes to capitalize. After Andrei Svechnikov's one-timer was thwarted, Stefan Noesen collected the rebound and banked it off the back of Erik Kallgren to take the 1-0 lead. For the Canes, the scoring would end. The strong play defensively would not. 

They failed on their second power play attempt in the second period, but they played well to begin the period. They dominated play for the first half of it before the ice started to tilt in Toronto's favor. The Canes would kill Toronto's first and only power play of the game more than halfway through the period, but Auston Matthews started to get moving. While it wasn't he that got the scoring started, he got the Maple Leafs going in the right direction. Before the second period ended, Calle Jarnkrok tied things up with a shot that was labeled for the top corner from the far face-off dot. It put a damper on what had been a good 40 minutes. The Canes held the Maple Leafs shotless for the first eight minutes of the third period. The problem is that Toronto scored on their first shot of the period after the Canes were unable to corral a puck in the defensive zone. Mitch Marner decided he wanted the puck and he found John Tavares heading to the front of the net as he beat Andersen to give the Maple Leafs the lead. If that wasn't enough, the Leafs would put the game to rest after William Nylander won a battle against Jaccob Slavin and squeaked one through the legs of Andersen to make it 3-1. The Canes would never find any momentum in the final few minutes as Toronto held on to complete a perfect back-to-back. Kallgren was phenomenal. After allowing the early goal, he settled into the game well and finished with 29 saves to win his second game against the Canes in his career. 

Honestly, I'm not mad with the effort from the team in this game. I thought they deserved a better outcome than they got. They just didn't get the bounces to go their way and that happens throughout an 82-game season. It's only their third regulation loss of the season have to give huge props to the Staal line for their night. While Matthews did end up with an assist, it was really more about Nylander's effort. Otherwise, Jordan Staal was glued to his hip the entire game. Matthews didn't record a shot on Andersen the entire game. Ultimately, Toronto's stars made the plays when they needed to and they got an excellent performance from their third-string goalie. The Canes stayed out of the box, for the most part, killing the only penalty they committed. The power play scored a goal. They did what they needed to do to win. They just couldn't pull it out. 

Canes' Three Stars of the Game

Third Star- Jordan Martinook (3 Shots, 4 Hits)

I don't think we've given Martinook enough credit for the work he's done through 12 games this season. He's found a home on that line with Staal and Fast, serving as the sparkplug for the trio when they're on the ice. He hasn't gotten the point production, but he's been great defensively. His four hits were tied with Staal for the most in the game and he got his chances in the offensive zone. 

Second Star- Stefan Noesen (Goal)

Most would look at Noesen on the power play and think he doesn't fit with a group that features Aho, Svechnikov, Necas, and Burns. He's seemed to look just fine in the quintet and he provided all the offense the Canes got tonight with his tally in the first period. He had a great hustle play in the first period to negate an icing and was generally good tonight. 

First Star- Jordan Staal (3 Shots, 4 Hits)

While we rag on him a little bit for his lack of offense at times, he's as valuable among the forward group defensively as Slavin is at times. Tonight, his job was to contain Matthews and he did his job well. There was one time when Matthews got loose against him, but nothing came of it. Hats off to him for his excellent performance today and for keeping the sniper from striking. 

What's Next

The Canes will get a few days off before they play their third back-to-back in as many weeks. The slate will begin in Sunrise, Florida on Wednesday night for the first meeting of the season with the Panthers. It's been a slow start for the Panthers and it won't help that offseason addition Matthew Tkachuk will be out of the lineup for the game after being given a two-game suspension for high-sticking Los Angeles goalie Jonathan Quick. Florida plays tonight against Anaheim and will get the same two-day break that the Canes have. The following night, the Hurricanes will return home to finish their season series with the Oilers as McDavid and Draisaitl look to sweep the two games against the Canes. Edmonton has a back-to-back of its own in Washington and Tampa Bay on Monday and Tuesday. They'll finish the week with a trip to Colorado to face the defending champions. It'll be a tough three-game stretch for the Canes but they've been through it already this season.