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Leafs hope for improved effort against Hurricanes

Feb 4, 2013 - 3:48 PM (Sports Network) - There were plenty of things for the Toronto Maple Leafs to work on following a one-goal loss over the weekend. They'll look for a stronger effort on Monday evening as they play host to the Carolina Hurricanes.

Eyeing up a third straight win, the Maple Leafs instead dropped a 1-0 decision to Boston, their seventh straight loss against the Bruins, and wasted 33 saves from James Reimer, who saw at least 10 shots in each period. The only one to get by him came in first period, but Toronto's offense failed to do its part.

That dealt Reimer his second loss of the campaign despite one of his better efforts.

"James Reimer gave us a chance. That's all you ask of your goaltender and I thought he made some big stops," noted Leafs coach Randy Carlyle.

Toronto, though, went 0-for-3 on the power play, including two chances late in the third period. The club has scored just twice in 23 power-play attempts at home this season.

Carlyle cited too many turnovers as one of the problems.

"(The Bruins) did what they had to do to play an effective road game and we didn't do enough of the things that we're capable of to establish a strong home game and 60 minutes," he added.

The Maple Leafs will try to improve on their 1-3-0 home record in the finale of a three-game residency on Monday.

For the Hurricanes, they play the second of a six-game road trip and had won three of four heading into the swing's opener on Saturday. They failed to keep the momentum going, falling 5-3 to the Philadelphia Flyers.

Eric Staal extended his point streak to five straight games with a goal and an assist, notching six tallies and nine points over that span, while Joni Pitkanen and Patrick Dwyer also scored in defeat.

Despite the balanced offense, the 'Canes went 1-for-6 on the power play and allowed the Flyers to score on all three of their chances with the man advantage.

"It's pretty obvious where we need to be stronger and that's special teams," Staal admitted. "Our penalty kill wasn't good enough and our power play wasn't good enough and that's going to win games for you in this league and it did for them tonight."

Coming off a 33-save shutout of Ottawa on Friday, Dan Ellis was pulled against Philadelphia after giving up four goals on 12 shots in just under 21 minutes of action. No. 1 Cam Ward made 11 saves in relief.

The Hurricanes are 8-2-1 in their last 11 versus the Maple Leafs, winning six of the past eight in Toronto.