Maple Leafs ready to tame’ Yotes

Monday night the red hot Toronto Maple Leafs will take on the Arizona Coyote sat home in the Air Canada Centre.

Here is a look at some of the keys to the game:

Antti Freeze

From Antti Niemi at the end of the romp in Montreal to Antti Raanta starting on Monday. This Antti wil be a lot more difficult for the Leafs to score on.Backed by Raanta, the Coyotes — despite sitting in last place in the NHL — have wins in the Canadian portion of their road trip so far and proven no opposition lead is safe.

Spin Cycle

Where other coaches change lines at their peril, there is enough scoring on the Leafs that coach Mike Babcock can plug any player on any unit with a reasonable expectation that group will have scoring chances. The midgame machinations in Montreal proved it.

OldHomeWeek

Knowing a lot of people will be watching back in his hometown of Scottsdale, Auston Matthews will keen to please. He fired a couple of goals on Saturday to finish off the Habs in his first appearance after resting four games with a suspected back injury.

Evening Out

At 5-on-5 draws, Toronto and Arizona are first and third in the league, the Leafs spreading around the face-off duties.

Canadian Baking

The Coyotes have gained points in seven straight games here (6-01) and have a few personnel returning to Toronto roots, such as Max Domi, ex-Leaf Luke Schenn and coach Rick Tocchet.