The Toronto Maple Leafs will take on the Carolina Hurricanes in a matchup featuring two of the Eastern Conference’s top teams.
The Leafs (27-13-2) sit atop the Atlantic Division with a solid four-point margin over the Florida Panthers. Meanwhile, the Hurricanes (24-15-2) are third in the Metro Division and have a comfortable eight-point lead over the fourth-place Columbus Blue Jackets.
The clash will take place at the PNC Arena in Raleigh and promises to be on Thursday night’s best matchups.
It will be interesting to see how the Leafs - who recently took a turn towards the old-school under Craig Berube, abandoning Sheldon Keefe's possession-oriented game for a dump-and-chase style - do against a team that plays in an opposite fashion as they do.
The Leafs may have completely morphed into a Craig Berube-style team, but the Hurricanes lead the NHL in puck-possession and Expected Goals Percentage. It will be interesting to see who comes out on top.
Moreover, the Leafs need to show they can bet on the top teams in the Metro to establish themselves as a true leader in the Eastern Conference.
Toronto Maple Leafs vs Carolina Hurricanes: Head-to-Head
Thursday night’s game marks the first time these two clubs meet this season. They will play twice more, once in February, and then in April as the season winds down.
As mentioned, the Hurricanes are a top 5v5 team when it comes to puck-possession and expected-goals percentage. The Leafs are 23rd in puck-possession and 20th in expected goals. When it comes to defense, the Hurricanes are 8th in Expected Goals Against, while the Leafs are 16th. The difference between these two teams is goaltending - the Leafs are ranked 4th, while the Hurricanes are at the bottom of the league. (naturalstattrick.com).
On special teams, the Canes have an edge over the Leafs in power play percentage, registering a 23.4% to the Leafs 20.7%. As for the penalty kill, the Canes also have an edge, albeit a slight one. The Canes have an 85.7% penalty kill rate to the Leafs 83.2% (ESPN).
As you can see, both teams are rather evenly matched when it comes to total points, however the Hurricanes are miles ahead when it comes to the type of statistics that tend to best predict the future. Overall, the Leafs have the advantage of having much better high-end talent, with all-world players like Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner and William Nylander.
While the Hurricanes can send out Andrei Svechnikov, Sebastion Aho and Martin Necas, those guys aren't on the same level as the Leafs big three. That said, the Hurricanes have a much better blue-line.
In the end, the matchup should be a close one. Both teams will look to grind out the win. Don’t be surprised if the game ends 3-1 with an empty-netter added for insurance.
The game doesn’t figure to be a blowout, so it should come down to the wire. Hopefully, the Leafs can pull out the win and extend their current winning streak to six games.