The Carolina Hurricanes hosted the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday evening (December 4) for their second of three meetings of the season. The Hurricanes won the first game 5-4 in Toronto on November 9. Both teams entered the game on a two-game winning streak and wanted to add a third game. After the last horn the Maple Leafs defeated the Hurricanes 5-1.
Summary of the game
There were three goals in the first period, two from the Maple Leafs and one from the Hurricanes. The Maple Leafs were fortunate to have two rebounds go their way and take a 2-0 lead just before twelve minutes. Bobby McMann got the Maple Leafs in front just 53 seconds into the game after his shot went off the post and then off the back of Frederik Andersen. By the time Andersen responded, the puck was already in the net. The visitors’ second goal came at 11:45 of the period, after a puck attempted to get around the backboard bounced oddly off the upright. Scott Laughton was in the right place at the right time for the Maple Leafs to double their lead.
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Exactly four minutes later, however, the Hurricanes managed to halve the lead. Shayne Gostisbehere had an otherworldly no-look pass to find Seth Jarvis, who managed to get the puck past Joseph Woll, making it a 2-1 game. It was his 16th of the season, maintaining his 40-goal pace. The Hurricanes were the better team, beating the Leafs 13-7, but found themselves on the wrong end of a 2-1 scoreline after 20 minutes.
The second saw two more goals, both from the Maple Leafs. Matthew Knies made it a 3-1 game for the visitors after receiving a pass from Max Domi to set a streak in the Hurricanes zone. He took a slight fall, slid to one knee, got back on his skates, powered up Sebastian Aho and finally scored with a backhand, going shortside to Andersen. It was a highlight in his seventh of the season. After a Jordan Martinook turnover, the Leafs had numbers going the other way for a counterattack on the Hurricanes. Auston Matthews would score on a one-timer to beat Andersen, making the lead 4-1. Andersen got a piece of it, but the shot was hard enough to go through him.
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In the third period, one goal came in the last frame of the match. McMann added his second of the game after scoring on the empty net, making it 5-1 for the Maple Leafs. They scored three unanswered goals after the Jarvis goal in the first period. The Hurricanes outscored the Leafs 9-8 in the third period and 32-23 overall.
The Hurricanes saw their two-game winning streak snapped and are now 16-8-2 on the season. Their next game is on Saturday, December 6 against the Nashville Predators. The Maple Leafs move to 13-11-3 after the win and are on a three-game winning streak. Their next game is on December 6 against the Montreal Canadiens.
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