After two huge wins against both the Washington Capitals and the Edmonton Oilers, the Maple Leafs took a 2-1 loss against the Carolina Hurricanes at the PNC Arena on Sunday, March 24th. The Hurricanes held off the Maple Leafs 2-0 for 40 minutes, and in the third period, Nicholas Robertson cut Carolina’s lead to avoid getting shutout. Tyler Bertuzzi made a return to the lineup after missing the game against Edmonton, and Auston Matthews recorded his 34th assist of the season to give him 92 points.
Maple Leafs lineup against the Hurricanes:
Bertuzzi – Matthews – Domi
McMann – Tavares – Nylander
Knies – Holmberg – Robertson
Dewar – Kampf – Gregor
Brodie – McCabe
Rielly – Lyubushkin
Edmundson – Liljegren
Woll
Jones
Hurricanes lineup against the Maple Leafs:
Guentzel – Aho – Jarvis
Svechnikov – Kuznetsov – Necas
Martinook – Staal – Teravainen
Drury – Kotkaniemi – Noesen
Slavin – Burns
Skjei – Pesce
Orlov – Chatfield
Andersen
Carolina got the 1-0 lead early at 18:55 when Brady Skjei scored on a wrist shot that went under Joseph Woll’s left arm after receiving a pass from Jordan Staal for his 12th goal of the season. Sebastian Aho extended the Hurricanes’ lead to 2-0 on the power play with his 31st of the season and his fourth in the past two games, and with this goal, he extended his point streak to six games (six goals, six assists)… Aho’s pass attempt across the slot went in after deflecting off Jake McCabe’s left skate.
The Hurricanes held their 2-0 lead throughout the whole middle frame, the Maple Leafs unable to cut it for a possible comeback. However, Toronto was able to avoid getting shutout, which would’ve been their first time this season getting shutout.
Nicholas Robertson cut into the Hurricanes’ lead to make it 2-1 at 11:09 of the final frame for his 10th goal of the season. He scored off a short pass from Auston Matthews and sent a one-timer past Frederik Andersen from the right face-off circle for the 2-1 final.
Joseph Woll on the game, how the Maple Leafs played, and playing high-intensity games: “It was a hard-fought game on both sides and it had a playoff-type feel in this Arena. The crowd was into it and everything, so it just came down to a goal. I thought we played well and gave ourselves the opportunities,” – “I think it’s nice when you get to play teams that are among the best in the league, and from my standpoint, it’s a lot of fun to be able to play high-intensity games like that. It’s always a good experience.”
Notes:
– Joseph Woll made a total of 41 saves for Toronto. The Maple Leafs allowed a season-high 43 shots.
– Auston Matthews has a total of 10 points during a four-game point streak (three goals, seven assists)
– Frederik Andersen made 32 saves for Carolina… He’s improved 6-0-0 since making a return from a blood clotting issue that unfortunately caused him to miss 50 games.
Andersen is 10-1-0 with a 2.05 goals-against average, a .925 save percentage, and one shutout in 12 games this season.
– Seth Jarvis’ six-game goal streak was put to an end… he played a career-high 22:57.
– The Carolina Hurricanes have swept the season series, and they’ve also won 3-2 on December 30th and 5-4 in overtime on March 16th.
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