The Toronto Maple Leafs will head into Dallas Friday night having won two of their last three games. Jonas Gustavsson is expected to get the start as he has surrendered two goals in his last two outings.
If Gustavsson can come up with timely saves and limit the number of questionable goals allowed, he could turn his season around. It is still too early to tell, as two good performances do not make up for a horrendous stretch of outings the past two seasons.
The Maple Leafs' power play has been on fire—currently ranked third overall in the NHL, they have converted close to 50 percent of their opportunities the past five games. If the Maple Leafs can continue to convert their power-play chances, that will go a long way to securing a win.
The key in Friday's game once again is scoring depth. In the Washington and Tampa Bay victories, all three lines scored, while the loss in Carolina saw only the first line produce goals. As of now, it comes down to consistency.
On defense, the Phaneuf/Gunnarsson pairing will likely be going head-to-head with Jamie Benn and Loui Eriksson, as both are leading the Stars in points by a wide margin. If the Maple Leafs can keep both relatively quiet, chances of winning will skyrocket.
In net, Kari Lehtonen has been lights out, posting a 13-4-0 record. The Maple Leafs must create traffic and go to the net hard if they want success against Lehtonen.
With James Reimer set to return possibly Sunday night against Anaheim, or Wednesday night against the Bruins, picking up a few wins leading to his first start back would be huge for the team.
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