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Andersen stops former team, undefeated Hurricanes beat Leafs

Gregg Forwerck / National Hockey League / Getty

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Frederik Andersen made 24 saves against his former team and the unbeaten Carolina Hurricanes matched the best five-game start in franchise history by defeating the struggling Toronto Maple Leafs 4-1 on Monday night.

Sebastian Aho, Steven Lorentz and Nino Niederreiter scored second-period goals for the Hurricanes. Andrei Svechnikov added an empty-netter and Jaccob Slavin had two assists.

Carolina also was 5-0-0 in 2019-20.

Jack Campbell stopped 31 shots for Toronto, which is 0-3-1 in its past four games and has managed just one goal in three of them.

Auston Matthews opened the scoring for the Maple Leafs with his first goal of the season. His wraparound came 3:25 in.

With the Hurricanes failing to score in the first period, it meant they trailed entering the second for the first time this season.

Aho and Lorentz scored less than 2 1/2 minutes apart in the second. Aho has a point in every Carolina game this season, while Lorentz got his first goal of the season.

ABOUT TIME

Matthews was the NHL leader in goals with 41 last season, so getting him in the scoring column was key. He was without an assist across his first three games as well.

YOU MUST BE TRIPPING

Slavin, a defenseman, was called for a second-period tripping penalty. That was his first penalty in more than 1,074 minutes of ice time dating to last March. The stretch included the 2021 playoffs and covered parts of 45 games.

GOALIE APPRECIATIONS

David Ayres, who made history in February 2020 by becoming the only emergency backup goalie to get an NHL victory when he rescued the Hurricanes against the Maple Leafs in Toronto, was honored again in Raleigh. This time, he handled the pregame siren ringing to welcome the Hurricanes to the ice.

A bit later, Petr Mrazek, who was Carolina’s top goalie for parts of the past three seasons but is out of the Toronto lineup because of an injury, received a big ovation when introduced during the first period. He acknowledged the crowd from an upper-arena box.

UP NEXT

Maple Leafs: Finish a three-game road trip Wednesday night at Chicago.

Hurricanes: Host the Boston Bruins on Thursday night in the opening part of their first back-to-back of the season.

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