Hurricanes at Maple Leafs preview

HURRICANES (34-22-4) at MAPLE LEAFS (32-22-8)
7 p.m. ET; ESPN+, CBC, SN360, SNO, SNW, SNP, FS-CR, NHL.TV

Carolina, which is coming off a 5-2 loss to the New York Rangers on Friday, trails the Columbus Blue Jackets by one point for the second wild card from the Eastern Conference.
Frederik Andersen will make his fourth straight start for Toronto, which defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-0 on Thursday and leads the Florida Panthers by two points for third place in the Atlantic Division.

Players to watch

Hurricanes forward Sebastian Aho has 17 points (11 goals, six assists) during an 11-game point streak and has scored in nine of his past 10 games.
Maple Leafs defenseman Jake Muzzin has six points (two goals, four assists) during a four-game point streak.

They said it

"I think it was definitely a tough loss. We needed to come out with a better game, but I think we need to look forward to [Saturday]. This one is going to sting but we've got another game on [Saturday] against the Maple Leafs that we have to focus on. We have to come out with our full intensity and play a full 60 minutes."-- Hurricanes forward Brock McGinn
"It should be the norm going forward here. We're in a fight, every point is important. It should be the norm going forward to have that desperation that we had (against the Penguins). We're going to need it." -- Maple Leafs defenseman Jake Muzzin

Hurricanes projected lineup

Andrei Svechnikov -- Sebastian Aho -- Teuvo Teravainen
Warren Foegele -- Jordan Staal -- Justin Williams
Nino Niederreiter -- Erik Haula -- Martin Necas
Ryan Dzingel -- Lucas Wallmark -- Brock McGinn
Jaccob Slavin -- Trevor van Riemsdyk
Jake Gardiner -- Brett Pesce
Haydn Fleury -- Joel Edmundson
James Reimer
Petr Mrazek
Scratched:None
Injured:Dougie Hamilton (broken fibula), Jordan Martinook (upper body)

Maple Leafs projected lineup

Zach Hyman -- Auston Matthews -- Mitchell Marner
William Nylander -- John Tavares -- Denis Malgin
Pierre Engvall -- Alex Kerfoot -- Kasperi Kapanen
Kyle Clifford -- Frederik Gauthier -- Jason Spezza
Martin Marincin -- Tyson Barrie
Jake Muzzin -- Justin Holl
Rasmus Sandin -- Travis Dermott
Frederik Andersen
Jack Campbell
Scratched:Timothy Liljegren, Dmytro Timashov
Injured:Ilya Mikheyev (wrist laceration), Morgan Rielly (fractured foot), Cody Ceci (ankle), Andreas Johnsson (meniscus)

Status report

Neither team held a morning skate. … The Maple Leafs will use the same lineup they had on Thursday against the Penguins.

Stat pack

Svechnikov has 11 points (five goals, six assists) during a nine-game point streak. ... Hyman has 13 points (seven goals, six assists) in his past 13 games. ... Tavares has 12 points (five goals, seven assists) in his past 10 games. ... Matthews has five points (three goals, two assists) in his past five games and is tied with David Pastrnak of the Boston Bruins for most goals in the NHL with 43.