This was the first game in a three-game road trip through California for the Toronto Maple Leafs, and they started off with a great effort from their goaltender.
The Maple Leafs will be hoping for a similar outcome when they play the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday. They will be aiming for more of the same.
On Tuesday, Toronto defeated the Los Angeles Kings by a score of 3-0, putting an end to a losing streak that had lasted for three games. Martin Jones, the goaltender for the Maple Leafs, made 31 saves, which is a significant improvement for a team that has struggled with goaltending troubles for the majority of the season. William Nylander also scored two goals for the Maple Leafs.
The Maple Leafs are confronted with a challenging decision regarding the game in Anaheim: whether to play Jones for consecutive nights or to give Dennis Hildeby, a Swedish player selected in the fourth round of the 2022 NHL Draft, his first NHL action.
Ilya Samsonov, who was originally slated to start goaltending for the season, was demoted to the minor divisions on Monday in an effort to regain his form. Unfortunately, Joseph Woll is sidelined with an injury.
Jones expressed confidence in his physical condition to continue playing consecutive nights, notwithstanding the 25 shots he took in the final two periods of the game against Los Angeles.
The majority of the night, he stated, he had the impression that he was in a favourable position. The majority of the opportunities that they had were well on target. It is helpful that there is not a lot of stuff from side to side.
On the other side of the rink, Nylander, who plays for the Maple Leafs, has achieved the 50-point barrier and has played in 35 games so far this season. This was the seventh fewest games a player needed to play in order to reach that milestone in the history of the club, trailing only Lorne Carr (31 games in 1943-1944 and 34 games in 1942-1943), Doug Gilmour (33 games in 1992-1993), and Darryl Sittler (34 games in 1977-1978).
Anaheim returns to action following a 7-2 loss on New Year’s Eve at the hands of the Edmonton Oilers.
Since November 15, the Ducks have a 4-17-0 record and have earned only one victory in the first five games of an eight-game homestand, the longest of the season.
Defending has been an issue during the slide, and the Ducks paid full price for it against the Oilers, with coach Greg Cronin identifying the largest culprit as inadequate protection in front of the net.
This season, Edmonton has defeated Anaheim twice by a combined score of 15-4. Sunday, despite outshooting the high-flying Oilers 14-10 in the first period, the Ducks fell behind 2-1 at the opening intermission and subsequently disintegrated.
As of Tuesday evening, there was still no determination regarding the return to action of Troy Terry, a forward for the Anaheim Bears, who missed the previous game on Sunday due to an upper-body injury. The Ducks have already been without freshman sensation Leo Carlsson due to injury, and only Frank Vatrano (who leads the team with 17 goals) is consistently illuminating the lamp. Consistency in scoring has also been an issue.