How the Leafs, Hurricanes have weathered the storm without key players

Injuries are inevitable for every team, but the Toronto Maple Leafs and Carolina Hurricanes have had their fair share of already. For the Leafs, it’s Auston Matthews, Max Domi, and now maybe even Matthew Knies, among other depth forwards. For the Canes, it’s Frederik Andersen, Seth Jarvis and a few other players that have been in and out.

And yet, both teams have found performances despite it. The Leafs are 6-1-0 in their last seven games, all without Matthews, while the Canes are 12-2-0 in their last 14 games. You could almost say it’s enough to feel good about these teams come playoff time, but they’ve fooled us in the regular season before.

Frank Seravalli talked about the recent stretches of both teams, and which one has impressed him more.

Frank Seravalli: The rule with the Toronto Maple Leafs is that we’re not allowed to talk about anything else but the playoffs. You can have a great regular season, but no declarations are allowed to be made until we get to April or May. I feel a little bit like the same with the Carolina Hurricanes, although they’ve certainly gone much deeper in the playoffs than the Leafs, and probably have afforded themselves a little bit more rope.

But when thinking about which team has had the more impressive surge this season, they’re two totally different stories, right? Marty Necas comes out of the clear blue sky to have 30 points in 17 games, and they’ve been a fantastic team at both ends of the ice. But in some ways, I’m actually more impressed with the Leafs with what they’re doing right now.

The reason for that is just consider the pieces that are out of their lineup. It’s not just Auston Matthews over in Munich, getting treatment for his undisclosed and somewhat mysterious injury. But how about Max Domi, David Kampf, Calle Jarnkrok, Max Pacioretty, they’ve had defensemen in and out. You’re missing a whole ton of your team, and yet they’ve kept winning.

6-1-0 without Matthews, and you see last night, new faces step in. Fraser Minten gets his first NHL goal. You look at the job that Nikita Grebyonkin has done, and the physicality that he’s provided, giving a little shot in the arm for this team.

You can watch the full episode here…