The Maple Leafs have reached a critical stage in their season and look to bounce back from two subpar performances at home with their match against the Carolina Hurricanes in Raleigh Thursday night. The meeting will be the rubber match for the two clubs, who split their two previous meetings.
Toronto begins a stretch of three games in four nights against teams on their heels in the ever tightening race for a playoff spot.
The Canes have won four games in a row since a 5-2 loss at Air Canada Center on December 29 and trail Toronto by just two points for the last wild card spot in the Eastern Conference, but they will have to try for their fifth straight without leading scorer Eric Staal and goaltender Cam Ward, who are both out with a lower body injuries.
The Leafs take on the Capitals in Washington on Friday night, who have 46 points(one less than Toronto) and two games in hand, before returning home for another Sunday night home game against the New Jersey Devils, who trail by just four points.
Anton Khoudobin has won his last three starts after spending over two months on injured reserve and will get the start in goal for Carolina.
Leafs coach Randy Carlyle indicated that he will split the goaltending duties in back to back games and will go with James Reimer between the pipes for the first time since December 21. Jonathan Bernier had his worst outing in a Leaf uniform on Tuesday in a 5-3 loss to the New York Islanders and is slated to go in Washington on Friday night.
Toronto’s lineup may be subject to late changes based on how a couple players feel in the pre-game skate. Defenseman Carl Gunnarsson took part in practice in Toronto on Wednesday and is on the road to recovery from an elbow injury suffered against the New York Rangers on Saturday, winger David Clarkson skated on Thursday morning, but left the ice in discomfort after only a few minutes.
Forward Carter Ashton was recalled from the AHL Toronto Marlies on Wednesday and will replace Peter Holland at center on the fourth line. Carlyle indicated to the media on Thursday that the demotion was in part to do with Holland needing to play more minutes to develop as a future top-six center.
“He(Holland) wasn’t going to play on the top two lines and we felt that it was hurting his development curve to leave him as a fourth line center.” Carlyle said.
Ashton has enjoyed success at the AHL level with 10 goals in 14 games, but has not been able to find that success in the NHL, registering only one assist in 18 games with the Leafs.
“A young player that has got size and skill and the ability to skate and protect the puck at the American League level doesn’t always translate automatically to that in the NHL.” Carlyle said “We think that (Ashton)’s continually showed some progress every time he’s been down, he’s went back there with the right attitude and he’s went down there and been their best player.”
The contest also marks the return of former Hurricanes defenseman Tim Gleason to Raleigh just eight days after being traded to Toronto for blueliner John-Michael Liles and college prospect Dennis Robertson.
Liles has averaged over 15 minutes ice time in the three games since the New Year’s Day deal and is +5, but has no points for his new club. Gleason was -2 and played just under 16 minutes in his debut for the Leafs on Tuesday.
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