The post-Winter Classic funk continued with disastrous results for the Toronto Maple Leafs, as Carolina Hurricanes scored early and often in a 6-1 pummeling at PNC Arena in Raleigh, NC.
Zach Boychuk, Jeff Skinner, Patrick Dwyer, John-Michael Liles, Jordan Staal and Elias Lindholm scored for the Hurricanes, who with the victory move into the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference. Joffrey Lupul scored the only goal for Toronto, who have lost their third game in a row and have been outscored 18-5 in losses to the New York Rangers, New York Islanders and Carolina.
Anton Khudobin made 25 saves for his fourth straight win and moves to a perfect 6-0-0 for the season. James Reimer made 30 saves and was mostly deserted by a Toronto club that showed little understanding of the concept of defensive hockey.
The Leafs lack of spark and energy was apparent from the outset, in spite of shaking up their roster by inserting Carl Gunnarsson, Mark Fraser, Carter Ashton and David Clarkson into the lineup.
The more motivated Canes won most of the battles for the puck and capitalized on Toronto turnovers. Fourth liner Boychuk put Carolina in the lead just 2:33 into the game and the red-hot Skinner extended the lead to 2-0 with a power play goal before the halfway point of the opening period.
Skinner has scored 17 goals in the last 17 games and leads Carolina with 21 goals.
Late in the first, the Leafs got on the scoreboard as Mason Raymond fed a pass from behind the net to Lupul for his 14th goal of the season, which appeared to infuse the Blue and White with a bit of confidence, but that was squashed by the Hurricanes before the end of the period, as Dwyer beat James Reimer to re-establish a two goal lead.
Toronto opened the middle frame with some effective cycle work in the offensive zone, but Carolina responded with a 3-on-1 break, resulting in the first goal and point of the season for Liles, the former Leaf defenseman traded to the Canes eight days ago.
The Leafs special teams were again a weak spot for the struggling club, as the penalty killing allowed two power play goals and their power play allowed Staal to score his 10th goal of the season short-handed early in the third.
Toronto head coach Randy Carlyle was critical of the effort of his club in remarks following the game.
“We stood around for most of the hockey game tonight.” Carlyle said. “For whatever reason, nobody seems to have an answer to right now is that we are doing things standing still, we are watching teams skate and we’re not engaged in the hockey game to a level that is required to give yourself a chance for success.”
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