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Matthews blanked, Marner bonked in loss to Canes; Leafs vs Devils

November 23, 2016, 4:53 PM ET [1134 Comments]
Mike Augello
Toronto Maple Leafs Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The Carolina Hurricanes 2-1 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday ended the club’s four game home winning streak and their string of offensive outbursts at Air Canada Center.

After scoring six goals four times at home in the month of November, the young Canes limited Toronto to just 26 shots on Cam Ward. Only Jake Gardiner’s point blast early in the first evaded the veteran goalie.

The difference in the game was Carolina winning the special teams battle. Jeff Skinner’s eighth of the season on the power play tied the game late in the opening period and former Leaf Viktor Stalberg’s short-handed marker at 14:06 of the second stood up for the Hurricanes, who won their fifth straight.

It was not a strong bounce back effort after a loss for Toronto, as has been the custom most of this season. The most effective player on the night was Auston Matthews, who lead the Leafs (along with linemate William Nylander) with four shots on goal and five takeaways, but the 2016 top pick’s goalless streak was extended to 13 games.

“I think there were parts of the game where we really could play to play in their zone and allow people to cycle the puck and get rolling around there.” Matthews said. “That stuff is all positive, but in the end we want to come out with two points.”

Rookie Mitch Marner raised a bit of concern early in the game after absorbing a hit from defenseman Jaccob Slavin. The Leafs winger blocked a point shot and collided with the Canes blueliner and dragged himself along the ice to get back to the bench.

Marner returned to the ice for a few brief shifts and then went to the Toronto locker room, due to the NHL’s concussion protocol.



“The League has a protocol to make sure everyone is safe so I had to come in for that reason.” Marner said. “I think they watched the video over again and realized it was the blocked shot, that's why I got to go back on... It kind of just stung me in the ankle and dropped me quick. It's just a stinger for a couple of minutes and I kind of just walked it off.”

Leafs coach Mike Babcock indicated following the game that there would be lineup changes on Wednesday as the club plays the New Jersey Devils in the second of back-to-back games at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ.

According to Leafs TV’s Paul Hendrick, goalie Jhonas Enroth was first to leave the ice at the club’s option skate at “The Rock” Wednesday morning, which likely means that Enroth will see his first action since relieving Andersen in the 7-0 loss to the LA Kings on November.

Enroth’s last start was a 5-1 loss to the NY Islanders in Brooklyn on October 30 and the Toronto backup has an 0-2-0 record, with a 4.40 GAA and .866 save percentage.

Hendrick also indicates that Martin Marincin may return against the Devils, taking the place of Roman Polak.

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TSN’s Darren Dreger reported on Tuesday that the Leafs are trying to trade center Peter Holland. The 25-year-old Toronto native has one assist in seven games this season.

Holland was given an early chance as the club’s fourth line center, but has been scratched regularly since Toronto claimed Ben Smith off of waivers from Colorado.

Dreger also reports that GM Lou Lamoriello is looking for a “shutdown defenseman”. Toronto has a great deal of flexibility with their salary cap, since none of their injured reserve players (Nathan Horton, Joffrey Lupul, Stephane Robidas) have been placed on LTIR.

That coupled with the fact that the Leafs are in a better position to make trades with extra draft picks and an organization stocked with prospects makes a deal for defensive help a distinct possibility.

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The NHL has released a list of 66 players exempt from the expansion draft for the newly named Las Vegas Golden Knights. According to Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston, injured Leafs forward Nathan Horton and former Leaf David Clarkson (who have no-movement clauses) currently have to be protected because of their no-movement causes but could be ruled as exempt before the expansion draft next June.

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