Hurricanes at Maple Leafs preview

HURRICANES (14-11-7) at MAPLE LEAFS (20-13-1)
2 p.m. ET; SNO, FS-CR, NHL.TV

The Maple Leafs, who have scored a total of four goals in their past four games, will try to avoid losing a season-high fourth straight game after a three-game winning streak. Center Auston Matthews is expected to miss his fifth straight game with an upper-body injury.
The Hurricanes have won three in a row after going 0-2-2 in their previous four games.

Players to watch

Hurricanes defenseman Noah Hanifin, selected in the first round (No. 5) of the 2015 NHL Draft, one pick after forward Mitchell Marner was selected by the Maple Leafs, had the game-winning goal and a team-high four shots in a 2-1 win against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday.
Maple Leafs goaltender Frederik Andersen is 10-4-1 with two shutouts in his past 15 starts. He has held opponents to two goals or fewer in 10 of those 15 games.

They said it

"It will be cool I think, any time you're part of a specialty game I guess. There's obviously a lot of history behind this one and there's always a little bit of an extra buzz around the game and usually that finds a way to seep down into the game and the teams themselves." -- Hurricanes forward Jeff Skinner
"You don't play a lot of those so for me personally I like to get up a little bit earlier, eat some breakfast and maybe get a quick nap in again so you don't feel like you're eating pasta for breakfast. It's a small challenge but you just have to adjust your routine a little bit." -- Goalie Frederik Andersen on preparing for a rare 2 p.m. weekday start

Hurricanes projected lineup

Jeff Skinner -- Victor Rask -- Teuvo Teravainen
Brock McGinn -- Jordan Staal -- Justin Williams
Sebastian Aho -- Derek Ryan -- Elias Lindholm
Joakim Nordstrom -- Marcus Kruger -- Josh Jooris
Jaccob Slavin -- Brett Pesce
Klas Dahlbeck -- Justin Faulk
Noah Hanifin -- Trevor van Riemsdyk
Scott Darling
Cam Ward
Scratched:Phillip Di Giuseppe](https://www.nhl.com/player/phillip-di-giuseppe-8476858), Haydn Fleury
Injured:None

Maple Leafs projected lineup

Patrick Marleau -- William Nylander -- Zach Hyman
Leo Komarov -- Nazem Kadri -- Connor Brown
James van Riemsdyk -- Tyler Bozak -- Mitchell Marner
Matt Martin -- Dominic Moore --
Kasperi Kapanen
Morgan Rielly -- Ron Hainsey
Jake Gardiner -- Connor Carrick
Andreas Borgman --
Roman Polak
Frederik Andersen
Curtis McElhinney
Scratched:Josh Leivo, Martin Marincin](https://www.nhl.com/player/martin-marincin-8475716?season=20172018)
Injured: Auston Matthews (upper body), Nikita Soshnikov](https://www.nhl.com/player/nikita-soshnikov-8478373?season=20172018) (lower body), Nikita Zaitsev (lower body)

Status report

Matthews skated on his own on Sunday and Monday but did not participate in practice. Zaitsev is expected to miss two weeks. Carrick will play after missing the past 10 games as a healthy scratch.

Stat pack

Staal has three points (two goals, one assist) in his past two games. Ryan has five points (one goal, four assists) in his past six games. Skinner has four points (no goals, four assists) in his past four games. … Nylander is five points away from 100 in the NHL.