The Toronto Maple Leafs (38-19-8) will celebrate St. Patrick’s Day by donning their green St. Pat’s jerseys tonight, as is customary.
The Toronto Maple Leafs introduced their new St. Pat’s jersey earlier this week. They will wear it this season. They are changing their image and eschewing the uniform they have worn since 2017.
The Carolina Hurricanes (40-20-6) will be their opponent in their yearly St. Patrick’s Day game.
The Hurricanes’ starting lineup will include recent additions Jake Guentzel and Evgeny Kuznetsov. The Hurricanes will try to build on their current three-game winning streak on the road tonight.
Hurricanes vs. Toronto Maple Leafs + Injury Updates
In addition, it will be Ilya Lyubushkin’s first game against his old team (of roughly five seconds) if he is healthy enough to play after being acquired by the Hurricanes in a three-team trade a few weeks prior. For unknown circumstances, he was not at practice on Friday; nevertheless, he participated in the optional skate and is expected to participate in warm-ups.
Ilya Samsonov’s injury sustained during practice nearly made an already precarious season for the pipes worse. Thankfully, head coach Sheldon Keefe gave a comforting statement at his post-practice availability, saying, “Sammy’s fine, he’ll play tonight,” even though it appeared serious when he was being led off the ice.
This is fantastic news because Samsonov has been playing well ever since being sent to the AHL and cleared waivers to return.
Calle Jarnkrok, who exited Thursday night’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers after colliding with the boards, also provided us with an update on his injuries yesterday. Keefe describes his ailment as a “hand injury,” and he will be out for “weeks.”
Jarnkrok has had a difficult season; he just made a full recovery from an injury he had suffered in January less than two weeks ago. I’m hoping he’ll be well enough to play in the playoffs.
At last, Mitch Marner’s injury was updated. This week, NHL insider Darren Dreger revealed that Marner had sustained a mild sprain to his high ankle. Although his timeframe is now classified as day-to-day, it remains uncertain. Despite not playing tonight, the top forward has skated the last two days, which is encouraging.
Teuvo Terevainen, a player for the opponent, is expected to miss tonight’s game with an upper-body injury. In addition, Frederik Andersen, a former Leaf goalie who has been out since November 4, 2023 due to blood clot complications, will not be starting for the Hurricanes. Instead, Pyotr Kotchetkov will get the start and take against Samsonov.