The Carolina Hurricanes will aim to set a team record for home wins on Sunday in their clash against the Atlantic Division-leading Toronto Maple Leafs at Raleigh, N.C.
The Hurricanes (47-27-5, 99 points) tied the team record of 31 home wins set in the 2005-06 season on Saturday afternoon when they eliminated the New York Rangers from playoff contention with a 7-3 victory.
The Maple Leafs (49-26-4, 102 points) also have an incentive to win. They have a four-point lead over the second-place Tampa Bay Lightning after a 1-0 home overtime win over the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night.
The Hurricanes ended a four-game losing streak (0-3-1) on Saturday and will finish second in the Metropolitan Division, giving them home-ice advantage against the New Jersey Devils in the first round of the playoffs.
Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour was pleased that his top players asserted themselves on Saturday. Seth Jarvis had a goal and two assists, captain Jordan Staal and Jackson Blake had one of each, and Sebastian Aho set up a pair of tallies.
“That’s how it has to happen,” Brind’Amour said. “You talk about your top guys, I thought that line (Jarvis, Aho and Blake) was really good. But everyone had a hand in it.”
Said Aho: “Obviously we haven’t been able to win as of late, so it was good to get back on track. Especially how we started the game was good, and took over there.”
Hurricanes forward William Carrier returned after missing 39 games with a lower-body injury. In his first game since Jan. 4, he logged 10:48 of ice time and had an assist.
The Hurricanes and Maple Leafs have split two games this season, each winning on home ice.
The Maple Leafs have clinched home-ice advantage for the first round of the playoffs.
“It’s huge,” Toronto forward Max Domi said. “Any time you can lock up that, it’s massive. Whoever we’re going to play, it’s going to be a heck of a battle in the first round. Hopefully, our fans are ready to go because we will be, for sure.”
Toronto was playing shorthanded on Saturday, going with five defensemen and 12 forwards. Defensemen Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Jake McCabe were unavailable because of undisclosed injuries.
Toronto coach Craig Berube said defenseman Dakota Mermis will be recalled from the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League and will play on Sunday.
“We talked about just playing real good defense, tight, and I thought our team did that,” Berube said. “Helped our defense out. We didn’t spend much time in our defensive zone, nothing off the rush and the forwards did a real good job of getting above people tonight and our defense was really good, I thought. We talked about it from the morning on and how we need to play this game tonight and protect our defense and not have extended zone time.”
Forward Mitchell Marner, who scored the overtime goal on Saturday, was impressed by the way his team responded by allowing only 15 shots on goal. Marner took the occasional shift on defense.
“We really stayed patient with our game,” Marner said. “Our D, when we really needed them, they were unreal for us. Some big key blocks, some key stick plays. As a group, we committed to playing defense-first. That’s something you’re happy to see.”
The overtime goal was Marner’s third this season and the seventh of his career.
–Field Level Media
