Maple Leafs look to maintain unbeaten under Keefe

The NHL is back with a busy night 'cause there are 13 games on the slate. The Toronto Maple Leafs will travel to Little Caesars Arena on Wednesday evening as they will take on the Detroit Red Wings. Will the Maple Leafs extend their winning streak, or will it be the Red Wings who get out of their slump?

Maple Leafs continue to win under Keefe

Exactly one week ago, the Toronto Maple Leafs decided to fire Mike Babcock after persistent disappointing results. Sheldon Keefe took over from him and Toronto earned their second straight win under their new coach last Saturday in an exiting game against the Colorado Avalanche. The Avs took the lead after nearly 30 seconds, but responded with 4 goals in the first period. Colorado came back within one goal in the third period, but Zach Hyman made an end to their hopes, scoring an empty netter.

The Leafs are tied for fourth in the Atlantic Division, just one point behind the Montreal Canadiens and with less than half of the regular season played, there is still everything to play for. The Leafs aren't that impressive on special team, but had two days to work on their not so stellar numbers. Auston Matthews is having a great season again, he's leading Toronto with 30 points (16 goals, 14 assists).

Mantha will be missed

The Detroit Red Wings seem to be facing a long and disappointing season. The Red Wings are in last place in the Atlantic Division and is already ten points behind the final guaranteed playoff spot. With a nice win streak, the difference in the rankings can be overseen, but there are no signs that Detroit will achieve better results soon. Expectations weren't high prior to the season either, but the board will have hoped that the Red Wings would be a bit more competitive than they are currently.

The Red Wings have the worst average number of goals of all NHL teams (2.27 per game) and also in terms of goals against (3.73 per game) there is no team with a worse average. Last weekend they lost both their back-to-back games. On Saturday, the equally low-ranked New Jersey Devils treated them to a 5-1 defeat and on Sunday Detroit suffered a 2-0 shutout defeat in their own barn against the Carolina Hurricanes. It's a huge blow that the Red Wings are still without their leading scorer Anthony Mantha (12 goals, 11 assists).

Keefe gets his third straight win

The Detroit Red Wings are now six games without a victory, while the Toronto Maple Leafs have won their two games since Keefe's appointment. The Red Wings lack offensive power and Mantha's absence will only make things worse. Against a Toronto, where there is a lot of quality, I don't see them get a result. The Maple Leafs are extremely talented and with guys like Auston Matthews and John Tavares on their team, they're capable of scoring four or five times against the weak Red Wings.