The Carolina Hurricanes aim to take another step forward in the race for first place in the Eastern Conference on Friday night when they visit the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Hurricanes (43-19-6, 92 points) led the conference by two points after their 6-5 home overtime win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday. They took an eight-point lead over the second-place Penguins in the Metropolitan Division.
The Hurricanes led 2-1 entering the third period but needed a goal late in regulation to tie the game. Sean Walker scored the winner at 4:31 of overtime.
“I thought we were great pretty much all night,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “It was a weird game. Going to the third, it was 2-1, and it ends up 6-5. You would have never thought that was the way that game was going.”
The Hurricanes and Maple Leafs split their first two meetings this season.
The Maple Leafs (29-28-12, 70 points) are coming off a 3-1 home loss to the New York Islanders on Tuesday that left them 14th in the Eastern Conference.
The Hurricanes are 6-4-0 over 10 games and alternated wins and losses over their past six, so the win over the Penguins was significant. The Hurricanes talked about resilience after the seesaw game.
“Resilience, I would say, is the word of the night,” said Jordan Martinook, who opened the scoring Wednesday. “You get the lead, they tie it up. You get the lead, they tie it up. Then they score two, and you’re just kind of sitting on the bench in a ‘What just happened’-type moment. (We) just stuck with it.”
“We’re very resilient, I think,” said Jackson Blake, who had a goal and two assists. “It doesn’t matter what the score is, we’re going to compete and we’re going to battle. We’re going to play the way Rod wants us to play and be predictable to each other.”
The Maple Leafs have split four games since losing eight in a row on their return from the Olympic break.
While the Islanders controlled the game after scoring twice on the power play in the first period, the Maple Leafs did show some combativeness that has been missing for most of the season.
“It’s something we’ve talked about almost daily, getting in there for each other and being physical,” Toronto coach Craig Berube said. “That’s what we need to have all the time.”
The Maple Leafs have become more physical since captain Auston Matthews was put out for the season on a knee-on-knee check against the Anaheim Ducks last week.
Most notable Tuesday was the way defenseman Morgan Rielly stepped in to fight New York’s Kyle MacLean after goaltender Joseph Woll was bumped.
“It’s a great job by him getting in there and sticking up for Joseph,” Berube said. “Obviously, that message has gotten across.”
It did not make up for Toronto’s other deficiencies, however.
“If I look at our forecheck, we have to do more with it,” Berube said. “We didn’t do enough of it to generate (scoring chances). We didn’t get to the netfront. That’s the bottom line. That’s where it all starts for me. We didn’t get to the netfront and create some chaos there, and some second and third opportunities. That’s the difference in the game.”
