Carolina Hurricanes Crunch Toronto Maple Leafs, 5-1

The Carolina Hurricanes continue their hot streak after the break now, winning six games in a row after beating the 14th ranked Eastern Conference Toronto Maple Leafs by a score of 5-1.

In a game that could possibly be the last game for some players on both the Maple Leafs and the Hurricanes before the trade deadline, the Hurricanes maintained complete focus, but the Maple Leafs may have been distracted due to the on-going trade rumors for many Leafs players; one of which, Alexei Ponikarovsky, was a healthy scratch, as he was traded during the game to the Pittsburgh Penguins for top prospect Luca Caputi.

The Hurricanes bounced on the Leafs early, as a goalie blunder by veteran Jean-Sebastian Giguere led to a shorthanded goal by Chad LaRose, who was welcomed back to the Hurricanes lineup with open arms, as he had three points in the game.

Jussi Jokinen started off the second period with a bang, giving the Hurricanes a 2-0 lead just 46 seconds into the second period and extending his career high point streak to 10 games. Goals by Brandon Sutter and Tuomo Ruutu would follow to give the Hurricanes a 4-0 lead to end the second.
    
Sergei Samsonov would add another Hurricanes goal in the third to give the Hurricanes a 5-0 lead before Maple Leafs' John Mitchell would put an end to rookie goaltender Justin Peters' shutout, giving the Hurricanes a 5-1 victory in a relatively quiet Air Canada Centre.

Justin Peters is showing a bright future for the Hurricanes. In three starts for the Canes, he is 3-0-0 with a G.AA of 1.33 and a save percentage of 95.6 percent.

Jussi Jokinen, another Carolina Hurricane who is currently red hot, has nine goals and 13 points in the last 10 games in which the Hurricanes have gone 8-2. The Hurricanes have gone 18-5 in games when Jussi Jokinen has a goal this season.

Now it's just a matter of who will be on the Hurricanes this Thursday night, as they will face the Ottawa Senators.