ST. PAUL, Minn. – If David Clarkson has to wait much longer for his first goal as a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs, he’s planning to turn to alternative measures.
“I’m going to start burning some incense here in my stall,” he said Wednesday before facing the Minnesota Wild.
Clarkson entered the night with a zero in the goal column through seven games played. It’s been a slow start offensively for a former 30-goal man who missed the first 10 games with his new team while serving a suspension for jumping off the bench to join a fight.
Even though the Leafs made it clear they weren’t looking for that level of production when they gave Clarkson a $36.75-million, seven-year contract this summer, they will need to get more out of him than they are now. The remedy coach Randy Carlyle came up with for trying to end the scoring drought was finding more power-play time for Clarkson.
“He’s had chances,” Carlyle said. “It’s part of our responsibility to try to support him with some of the power-play situations. … There’s no better cure for a guy that hasn’t scored than continuing to move up the lineup and play with your better players.”
Offence likely won’t be easy to come by against the Wild. They’ve surrendered just 16 goals at 5-on-5 through 19 games so far – making them the NHL’s only team to average less than one per night. One break that could work in favour of the Leafs was Minnesota’s decision to start goalie Niklas Backstrom in place of Josh Harding, who owns the league’s best save percentage but was feeling ill on Wednesday morning.
Toronto was expected to turn to Jonathan Bernier. He has three shutouts in six career starts against the Wild and registered a shootout victory in his last start against New Jersey. The only other expected lineup change for the Leafs was the return of fourth-line winger Colton Orr in place of Troy Bodie. There was also the possibility they might bring rookie Morgan Rielly back into the lineup as the seventh defenceman, but Carlyle wouldn’t confirm that move.
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PROJECTED LEAFS LINEUP
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ONE-TIMERS
This is just the 12th meeting ever between the teams and only Toronto’s fifth visit to Xcel Energy Center … Tonight marks Minnesota’s 500th all-time game in the building … Phil Kessel will play his 300th game with the Maple Leafs … Mike Ballard (upper body), Mike Rupp (lower body) and Clayton Stoner (lower body) are on the sidelines for the Wild … Dany Heatley has 51 points in 41 career games against Toronto. However, the big winger has just two goals this season … Minnesota is 9-1-2 when scoring first this year while the Leafs are 7-2-0 … Phil Kessel has a team-leading 64 shots for Toronto. Zach Parise (79) tops Minnesota … The Leafs lead the NHL with four short-handed goals … Wild defenceman Ryan Suter has 11 assists but is still looking for his first goal of the season … Suter leads all NHL players with an average of 29 minutes 22 seconds of ice time per game … John-Michael Liles appeared set to be a healthy scratch for Toronto for a sixth straight game. He has yet to play for the NHL team this season.
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QUICK QUOTES
“If you turn the puck over against the Minnesota hockey club they’re going to forecheck you to death. … We want to make sure we limit those turnovers and try to play more of the game in their zone.” – Leafs coach Randy Carlyle on the Wild.
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“One thing that they do as well as any team in the league is when there’s an opportunity to attack they come at you and they come at you quickly. … They might give up some shots but they give up a lot shots from the outside.” – Wild coach Mike Yeo on the Leafs.
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“I never will let it become an issue. If I was younger playing in this city and having to be asked some of the questions, maybe it would bug me. The way I am, I know it will come. If this team is winning, that’s all that matters.” – Clarkson on his scoring troubles.