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After a four-day break for the Christmas holiday, the Toronto Maple Leafs take on the Florida Panthers in Sunrise, FL on Wednesday, winners of their last three games on the road.
The Leafs had a 2-6-5 record away from Air Canada Center entering December, but a win in Boston and back-to-back victories in Colorado and Arizona last week have Mike Babcock’s squad closing in on a .500 record on the road.
Frederik Andersen makes his seventh consecutive start for Toronto and Roberto Luongo will make the start for the Panthers, who are one point ahead of the Leafs in the Eastern Conference standings.
Leafs morning skate in Florida. #TMLtalk pic.twitter.com/sXfev0k7P2
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) December 28, 2016
Toronto finds themselves in a gray area in the Eastern Conference. They trail Boston by five points for third place in the Atlantic Division and have four games in hand, but the Florida clubs are just ahead of them and are likely to bounce back from underwhelming starts. They are just one point ahead of Detroit, Buffalo and the NY Islanders and two points ahead of last place New Jersey.
The Leafs activated Tyler Bozak from injured reserve and made room on the 23-man roster by sending goalie Jhonas Enroth to the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League.
The veteran center skated with regular linemates James van Riemsdyk and Mitch Marner at the morning skate at the BB&T Center on Wednesday. Rookie Frederik Gauthier (recalled on Tuesday) will dress and center the fourth line with Matt Martin and Nikita Soshnikov.
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The Centennial Classic between the Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs at Exhibition Stadium (aka BMO Field) surprisingly has tickets available with only days to go.
The outdoor game may be suffering from a market that has been saturated with events over the last year, including playoff runs for the Blue Jays, Raptors and Toronto FC, the Grey Cup Final, the World Cup of Hockey and the World Junior.
League sources are indicating that only a limited number of seats are left, but Jonas Siegel of Canadian Press reports that blocks of seats are still available at a price tag of $229 each and the Maple Leafs sent an e-mail to fans indicating that tickets for the outdoor game had been released.
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Regina Pats center and 2016 Leafs draft pick Adam Brooks continues to battle teammate Sam Steel for the WHL scoring lead. The 20-year-old center scored a hat trick and added two assists against Moose Jaw before the holiday break and did the same in a 7-4 win over the Brandon Wheat Kings on Tuesday.
Brooks has 20 goals and 38 assists in 26 games, but Steel also registered five points on the night and leads the Western Hockey League with 59 points.
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