Hurricanes at Maple Leafs preview

HURRICANES (3-3-1) at MAPLE LEAFS (7-2-0)
7 p.m. ET; SNO, FS-CR, NHL.TV

Maple Leafs forward Patrick Marleau needs one goal to tie Jeremy Roenick (513) for 39th on the NHL all-time list. Marleau has four goals in his first nine games with Toronto after scoring 508 during 19 seasons with the San Jose Sharks.
The Hurricanes, who have lost two in a row, will begin their first set of back-to-back games this season. They host the St. Louis Blues on Friday at PNC Arena.

Players to watch

Forward Jeff Skinner leads the Hurricanes with six points (five goals, one assist) and has four points (three goals, one assist) in his past three games.
Maple Leafs forward Mitchell Marner had two assists in a 3-2 win against the Los Angeles Kings on Monday, ending a streak of four straight games without a point. It was his first multipoint game since he had a goal and an assist in Toronto's 7-2 season-opening win against the Winnipeg Jets on Oct 4.

They said it

"There's a lot of guys from Ontario on our team and it's an Original Six franchise. Any time you play an Original Six franchise is a pretty exciting situation for a player." -- Hurricanes coach Bill Peters
"Veteran players, they know how to play, they know where to stand, their radar goes off when something's going wrong and they find a way to get back to the net and put their stick in the right spot. Because they know all those things, they do more talking and settle everyone else down. He's been a real plus to us." -- Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock on defenseman Ron Hainsey, who spent 300 games with the Hurricanes from 2013-17

Hurricanes projected lineup

Sebastian Aho -- Jordan Staal -- Elias Lindholm
Brock McGinn -- Victor Rask -- Teuvo Teravainen
Jeff Skinner -- Derek Ryan -- Justin Williams
Joakim Nordstrom -- Marcus Kruger -- Josh Jooris
Noah Hanifin -- Justin Faulk
Jaccob Slavin -- Brett Pesce
Haydn Fleury -- Trevor van Riemsdyk
Scott Darling
Cam Ward
Scratched: Klas Dahlbeck, Janne Kuokkanen
Injured:Lee Stempniak (back)

Maple Leafs projected lineup

Zach Hyman -- Auston Matthews -- William Nylander
James van Riemsdyk -- Tyler Bozak -- Connor Brown
Patrick Marleau -- Nazem Kadri -- Leo Komarov
Matt Martin -- Dominic Moore -- Mitchell Marner
Morgan Rielly -- Ron Hainsey
Jake Gardiner -- Nikita Zaitsev
Andreas Borgman --
Roman Polak
Frederik Andersen
Curtis McElhinney
Scratched:Josh Leivo, Eric Fehr, Connor Carrick
Injured:None

Status report

Stempniak was on the ice for the Hurricanes' optional skate but will not play. Carolina is expected to use the same lineup that played Tuesday in a 5-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning. … Van Riemsdyk missed practice Wednesday with a lower-body injury but took part in the morning skate. Coach Mike Babcock said he will be a game-time decision. Leivo will replace van Riemsdyk if he cannot play.

Stat pack

The Hurricanes take an NHL-low 5.7 penalty minutes per game and have faced 19 opposition power plays, the fewest in the League. Toronto is 14th at 9.6 minutes per game.