*Photo from ABC News*
With Toronto Zamboni driver and Carolina Hurricanes emergency goalie legend Dave Ayres in the building, the stage was set for the Hurricanes to put together a win. They did just that. Sebastian Aho scored, Steven Lorentz scored, and the Hurricanes defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-1 on Monday night.
By beating the Maple Leafs, the Hurricanes have rocketed themselves to a perfect 5-0-0 start to begin the season, which is the second time they've started a season with that record, the previous time being fairly recently, when they started the 2019-2020 season with a 5-0-0 record. Carolina defenseman Ian Cole also played in his 600th career NHL game.
Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour discussed the hot start, saying that "I like how hard we're playing. It's not always going to be perfect, and you don't always expect it to be, but the effort is there and it's making up for a lot of the mistakes we're making. I love the work ethic of the group."
Auston Matthews scored the lone goal of the first period, scoring career goal number 200 to give the Maple Leafs a 1-0 lead after one period. In the second period, Aho tied it for the Hurricanes, scoring 7:02 into the period. 2:23 later, Lorentz got in on the fun, with his first goal making it a 2-1 lead for the Hurricanes.
Towards the end of the second, with 3:11 left in the period, Nino Niederreiter scored his second goal of the season, making it a 3-1 lead for the Hurricanes off an assist from Jaccob Slavin. In the 3rd period, with one minute left in the game, Andrei Svechnikov scored on an empty net, his 5th goal of the season, giving the Hurricanes a 4-1 lead and sealing the win.
Former Maple Leafs goalie Frederik Andersen got the start in goal for the Hurricanes against his old team, and he took home the win, improving his record to 5-0-0, as he's started every game this season for the Hurricanes. Andersen sure did well, saving 24 of 25 shots the Leafs sent his way, posting a stellar .960 save percentage.
Andersen said of playing his old team that "The most difficult part was to not think about what they're going to do because I know them so well. You kind of play those mind games a little bit. It was tough mentally to shut that off and not try to analyze every play and just react to it."
The man who is the successor to Andersen in Toronto, Jack Campbell, was the starter for the Maple Leafs, and he did not get the win, dropping his season record to 2-2-1 to start the year. Campbell saved 32 of 35 shots, posting a .914 save percentage, so he still played well, but he couldn't match Andersen on the other end.
Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said of the loss that "When you're playing against the Carolina Hurricanes, I think they set the standard in the league. Despite the fact that we competed at a higher level today that was required in the game, it's still not to the level necessary to be able to compete with a team like that. That's the hardest game we've played this season by a wide margin."
The Maple Leafs get back into action against the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday, with Campbell back in goal. Andersen figures to get the start for the Hurricanes when they face the Boston Bruins on Thursday.
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