NHL: Toronto Maple Leafs host Anaheim Ducks at Air Canada Centre
The second game of Thursday will be played at the Air Canada Centre as the Toronto Maple Leafs will be playing host to Anaheim Ducks. This will be the 697th game of the season and is expected to be a tough match keeping in mind the last few matches.
The last time these two teams met was during the last season which saw Toronto Maple Leafs win the match 6-3 and end an eight-game losing streak and get on the winning roads for quite some time. This time out the teams face each other with this being the
only match of the season between them.
Jean-Sebastien Giguere is the expected goalkeeper to start for the Toronto Maples which is surely going to be a test for the Anaheim Ducks. He has achieved a lot during the course of his career with the most notable being the Stanley Cup win in 2007 with
Anaheim Ducks. However, at the start of the season he was traded to the Maple Leafs and now he is being looked upon to play an important role and win the match for his new team.
"Obviously, we had a long road with Jiggy," Anaheim right wing Teemu Selanne said. "He did so much for our hockey club for so many years. It's going to be a little different to play against him. In the game, obviously you try not to think about that too
much.
"One thing for sure -- there are no secrets either way. He knows where I'm going to shoot, and I know his style, too. It's going to be interesting."
A few days a ago, it looked as if Toronto Maple Leafs were well on course for a play-off finish as they won four games in a row but the last three games have been terrible for the Maple Leafs as they haven’t managed to win a game in regulation time. Coupled
with this is the embarrassing 0-7 loss to the New York Rangers that they faced this Wednesday.
"That's hockey. It happens," defenseman Francois Beauchemin said. "Sometimes it's tough. You got to be ready to battle. When you make a mistake, you got to regroup. Instead of picking ourselves up, we kind of let down and stopped working."
Toronto Maple Leafs have played 45 games so far in the season out of which they have won 18 games in regulation time, 5 in overtime and have scored 41 points. Their counterparts for the night, Anaheim Ducks have played 49 games out of which they have won
26 games in regulation time, 4 games in overtime scoring 56 points.
Anaheim Ducks have been able to perform well at home but if they need to assure a play-off finish then they need to step up their game away from the Honda Centre as well. Jonas Hiller, goalie of the Ducks played superb as the Ducks won 2-1 against the Ottawa
Senators starting a run of 10 away games out of 12. Bobby Ryan scored the winning goal which saw the Ducks finally win the match away from home.
"I don't know if he earned a star tonight but he certainly won a game," Ryan said of Hiller. "We got outplayed in a lot of aspects of that game and he did his job. It was incredible."
The match sees Anaheim Ducks as favourites to win it but with the score being very tight and match being very tough indeed.
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