Hurricanes planning an epic troll job for the Leafs on Monday night involving David Ayres
The Carolina Hurricanes organization is certainly known for its willingness to be overtly petty, albeit pretty clever, when it comes to their interactions with other teams.
There is evidence of this in not only how they consistently take shots at the Nashville Predators with a seemingly endless parade of banner jokes, and also how they trolled the Montreal Canadiens after offer-sheeting former 3rd overall pick Jesperi Kotkaniemi and offering him a $20 signing bonus - an ode to Canes forward Sebastian Aho, who wears #20. The Habs offer-sheeted Aho back in 2019 before the Canes chose to match.
On Monday, the Hurricanes may pull off their funniest troll job yet, when they play host to the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs - who famously lost to the Hurricanes in Toronto on February 22, 2020 with 42-year-old emergency backup goalie David Ayres in net. Ayres also drove the zamboni for the AHL Toronto Marlies.
To add insult to injury, the Hurricanes will have David Ayres in attendance at the game in Raleigh, NC on Monday night to sound the siren to begin the game. How's that for rubbing some salt in the wounds.
You certainly have to admire the Canes' dedication to maintaining their reputation as the "jerks" of the league. This is one hell of a not-so-subtle jab at the Leafs.
Will the Leafs use the Canes' attempt to poke fun at them as motivation to play hard and try to steal one on the road and snap a 3-game losing skid in Raleigh? Or will the Hurricanes get the last laugh and extend their win streak to 5 games? This one should be a good one.
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Kyle Connor | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Alex Tuch | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Owen Power | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Michael Bunting | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Drew Helleson | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jirí Kulich | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Isac Lundestrom | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Vladislav Namestnikov | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Nino Niederreiter | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Gabriel Vilardi | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jason Zucker | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Leo Carlsson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Nikolaj Ehlers | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Ross Johnston | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Evgeni Malkin | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Josh Morrissey | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Cole Perfetti | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Bryan Rust | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Mark Scheifele | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Trevor Zegras | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Complete stats | ||||
| STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Jets | 20 | 17 | 3 | - | 34 | |
Wild | 19 | 13 | 3 | 3 | 29 | |
Hurricanes | 19 | 14 | 5 | - | 28 | |
Devils | 22 | 13 | 7 | 2 | 28 | |
Capitals | 19 | 13 | 5 | 1 | 27 | |
Golden Knights | 20 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 26 | |
Maple Leafs | 20 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 26 | |
Rangers | 18 | 12 | 5 | 1 | 25 | |
Panthers | 20 | 12 | 7 | 1 | 25 | |
Flames | 20 | 11 | 6 | 3 | 25 | |
| Conference | Cumulative | ||||||