The Calgary Flames and visiting Toronto Maple Leafs will strive to continue their win streaks in the face of key injury absences when they meet on Monday night.
The Maple Leafs will wrap up the Alberta section of their road trip coming off the high point of their season so far. Toronto scored four third-period goals in a 7-2 battering of Edmonton on Saturday to extend its winning streak to four games, its first of that length since January.
“The vibes are great,” said goaltender Anthony Stolarz, who made 30 saves on the night. “We got a great group, an influx of kids that have a lot of energy, and they’re really bringing out the best in everyone. It’s an exciting time to be a Maple Leaf.”
The ongoing absence of second-line center John Tavares (lower-body injury) has afforded head coach Jim Hiller the opportunity to prove that the Maple Leafs’ forward corps offers more than the one-two punch of years past.
Thirteen different players recorded a point on Saturday, and every member of the fourth line — Brandon Duhaime, Teddy Blueger and Zack MacEwen — nabbed their first goal in blue and white over the last two games. As a team, Toronto has scored 18 goals over the last three.
“That to me says something about your team. That says you’ve got depth. That says it’s not just (Auston) Matthews. It’s not just (William) Nylander. It’s not just Tavares. It’s going through the lineup, and that gives you a chance to win every night,” Hiller said.
Toronto conceded its first power-play goal on the road against the Oilers, though they still lead the NHL in penalty kill percentage (95.2%) and special-teams efficiency (125.4%).
After losing six of their first seven games, the Flames will have a chance to extend their own winning streak to four as they wrap up their four-game homestand. Devin Cooley made 28 saves as Calgary thumped the Detroit Red Wings 4-1 Saturday.
“We’ve just been stacking wins and stacking good play the last couple games here,” said Joel Farabee, who had three points on the night. “We just have a little bit of confidence and a little bit of swagger right now that maybe we didn’t have the first five or six games of the season. We’re just finding how we have to play to win and just trying not to do too much and playing simple.”
The Flames have managed to reverse their fortunes with something of a depleted offense. Jonathan Huberdeau (hip) remains sidelined for the foreseeable future while captain Mikael Backlund (upper-body injury) has missed the last two outings.
Lacking genuine star power at the top of their lineup, Calgary will continue to count on a distributed workload and a high-functioning power play, which is 6-for-12 over its last four games. Nine of the team’s 12 forwards logged at least twelve minutes at even strength against Detroit.
“When the power play is scoring and things are going their way, they start feeling really good about playing on the ice and they know they can be difference-makers and that’s the phase they’re in right now,” said head coach Ryan Huska.
Toronto will likely continue to rotate players in and out of their defensive pairings amid the injury absences of Chris Tanev, Nick Blankenburg and Marshall Rifai.
The Maple Leafs have won the last eight encounters between the two teams.