Gameday: Maple Leafs vs. Hurricanes

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This is the gameday hub, where you can find all the latest news and information you need to know for tonight's Black Friday tilt between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Carolina Hurricanes. Make Hurricanes.com a regular stop throughout the day, as we update this hub with notes, videos, photos and more as puck drop draws near.
The Hurricanes will hold a 10:30 a.m. morning skate at PNC Arena, and we'll be rinkside, as always, to bring you the latest.
Last updated: 5:05 p.m.

BLUE CROSS AND BLUE SHIELD OF NORTH CAROLINA TOOLS TO VICTORY
5:05 p.m.
TV's Mike Maniscalco sets the table for tonight's match-up with the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina three Tools to Victory.

IN THE ROOM: SKINNER & VAN RIEMSDYK
3:25 p.m.
Jeff Skinner and Trevor van Riemsdyk spoke after today's morning skate.

IN THE ROOM: BILL PETERS
12:05 p.m.
Head coach Bill Peters met with the gathered media contingent in Raleigh after the Hurricanes' morning skate. Here is a sampling of what he had to say, and the full availability can be found below.
On how the first meeting between these two teams on Oct. 26 compares to tonight: "We can learn from the head-to-head, for sure, but things have changed a lot since then. Both teams are a little bit different."
On Thursday's practice: "Our last game we weren't as good as we like to be, so we wanted to get out on the ice and made sure we executed a little bit with the puck, basically kept the motor running with the schedule we have right now. We touched on a few different things."
On the tightly packed standings: "They don't change much, and it's going to be that way right until game 82. You've got to get on a bit of a roll and get some head-to-head wins in regulation in your division and conference."
On Ron Hainsey's strengths: "Size, reach and skating ability. He's a big man with a real good reach, and he's a good penalty killer because of the combination of those three attributes. He's a veteran guy who knows how to play. ... His experience, size and length makes him hard to play against."
On goaltending: "I defer to Mike Bales a lot. He's got a plan. He's got it all mapped out. I like the plan. We're going to need both guys at some point."

CANES LINES: MORNING SKATE
10:35 a.m.
After Wednesday night's loss, it's no surprise to see some adjustments to the Canes' lineup. Victor Rask looks to draw back in, and Cam Ward will likely get the start in net.
Aho-Staal-Teravainen
McGinn-Rask-Lindholm
Skinner-Ryan-Williams
Nordstrom-Kruger-Di Giuseppe
Slavin-Pesce
Fleury-Faulk
Hanifin-van Riemsdyk
Ward
Darling
We'll go inside the room after the skate.

CANES NEED BOUNCE-BACK EFFORT AGAINST LEAFS
12:00 a.m.
The Carolina Hurricanes will be in search of a bounce-back effort when they host the Toronto Maple Leafs in the third game of a four-game homestand.
The Canes suffered their most lopsided loss of the season on Wednesday, a 6-1 defeat at the hands of the New York Rangers. Sebastian Aho extended his goal-scoring streak to a career-long five games with a power-play goal in the first period, but the Rangers pulled away with three unanswered goals in the third period.
"There wasn't much legs or effort or much of a whole lot. We got outworked and outplayed," Jordan Staal said. "They were quicker, tracking harder and executing the right plays. We weren't."
"You learn. You don't forget it. You don't forget that," head coach Bill Peters said. "I think there's a lot of disappointment and guys disappointed in various aspects of the game. We're going to have to bounce back, I know that much."
The Canes entered Wednesday's game with a 5-1-1 record in their last seven games, so the performance and result were a bit uncharacteristic.
"I didn't see this coming, to be honest with you," Peters said. "For me, this was a little bit out of the blue."
"here were opportunities to get back in the game that we didn't take advantage of. Then we continued to make mistakes and let them take over," Staal said. "It wasn't good. We have to come back with a better effort next time."
Now, the Canes can bounce back, and they'll look to do it against one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference. The Maple Leafs are 14-8-1 (29 points) and rank second in the Atlantic Division. Winners of six straight games, the Leafs have now gone winless in two straight games (0-1-1), most recently falling 2-1 to the Florida Panthers in a shootout.
"There are some things I think we can still clean up. Your game is never perfect. We're not necessarily where we want to be in the standings, either. We want to be a few more up there. We've got some games in hand, but we want to take advantage of our opportunities to win those games and jump up into a playoff spot," Justin Faulk said after Wednesday's game. "I think everyone in this room believes we can do it. We've shown we can put together runs and play good hockey."
CANESPR NOTES: Justin Williams played in his 1,100th career NHL game on Wednesday. … The Canes have earned at least a point in eight of their last nine games against the Leafs in Raleigh (6-1-2) and in eight of their last 11 games overall against Toronto (7-3-1). The Canes have also won four of the last six season series against Toronto, dating back to the 2011-12 season.
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