NHL Game Preview - Toronto at Carolina

Sat Mar 11, 2017 7:00 PM EST

RALEIGH, N.C. -- The Carolina Hurricanes are encouraged by the offense potential of relative newcomers.

They are bound to need more of that production Saturday night when the Toronto Maple Leafs are the opponent at PNC Arena.

After all, the Maple Leafs are a team with talented younger players who have helped put the team in the playoff conversation.

The Hurricanes are more likely to be gearing up for the future, but with right winger Sebastian Aho reaching the 20-goal mark and left winger Valentin Zykov scoring in his NHL debut Thursday night there's more optimism about seeing immediate gains.

"A very humble kid," Carolina goalie Cam Ward said of Aho. "He's probably finding some chemistry with some of the guys."

Hurricanes coach Bill Peters said 19-year-old Aho might be regaining some of his zip after a tough stretch. That's typical of a rookie, the coach said.

"He has good jump again and I hope he continues that," said Peters, whose team has won only two of its last seven games (2-3-2).

Peters said the Hurricanes might look to shift Aho to center to see how he handles that, but with forwards Brock McGinn and Phillip Di Giuseppe nursing injuries that experiment will have to wait.

Zykov had an impressive debut, perhaps most notably by his willingness to park in front of the net to create chances.

"You have to want to be at the front of the net," Peters said. "He's smart enough to know that. ... I think he was fine for his first game. I'm sure he was a little bit nervous, but he settled in and gave us good minutes."

The Maple Leafs have won their past two games (both at home), but the game against Carolina begins a three-game road swing for Toronto.

Goalie Frederik Andersen said he likes the way the Maple Leafs have been stingier in many recent games.

"If we can keep doing that down the stretch, we'll be tougher," Andersen said. "Every game now, we just have to want it more."

The Maple Leafs are stocked with young scorers, with 19-year-old Auston Matthews, who has tallied 31 goals, and 20-year-old center William Nylander, who scored Thursday night for his 18th goal of the season.

"He's getting better and better and better," Toronto coach Mike Babcock said of Nylander. "He has an absolute cannon, so that helps."

Toronto center Mitchell Marner said the victory against the Philadelphia Flyers had a playoff feel to it with two contending teams. That's not likely to be the case in this next game, with Carolina barely out of last place in the Metropolitan Division.

"At this time of the year, any save or any goal can be the difference in the game," Andersen said.

This will be Toronto's second visit to Raleigh in less than a month. The Maple Leafs won 4-0 with Curtis McElhinney delivering the shutout in the last matchup. Carolina won 2-1 in November in Toronto.

The Hurricanes gave up three power-play goals in Thursday night's 4-3 victory against the New York Rangers. That created concerns because Carolina has had one of the best penalty-killing rates in the league for most of the season. While the Hurricanes didn't practice Friday, Peters said penalty killing would be addressed during a morning session prior to the Toronto game.