Minnesota Wild vs Toronto Maple Leafs Live Online

The Toronto Maple Leafs are still in last place in the Northeast Division, but there’s certainly a changing feeling as the Minnesota Wild arrive in town for Tuesday night’s meeting. After winning one of their first 13 games, the rejuvenated Leafs (3-7-5) try for a third straight victory in front of goalie Jonas Gustavsson, while the Wild again look for their first win at Air Canada Centre. Problems in net were a big reason Toronto lost its first eight games, including seven in a row in regulation from Oct. 3-24.

But Gustavsson, a 25-year-old undrafted rookie from Sweden, has returned from a groin injury and supplanted the struggling Vesa Toskala, starting six of the Leafs’ last seven games while going 3-0-3 with a 2.47 goals-against average. The win extended the Leafs’ point streak to seven games (3-0-4) since a 3-1 loss at Vancouver on Oct. 24. Another big reason for their surge is an offense that has scored three or more goals five times over that span after doing it twice in the season’s first eight games.

Toronto remains at least five points behind every other team in its division, and Minnesota is attempting to dig itself out of a similar hole in the Northwest. The Wild (6-10-0) have won three of four behind goalie Niklas Backstrom, who allowed two or fewer goals in each of the three victories. In his lone career appearance against the Leafs, Backstrom stopped 27 shots in a 6-1 win Jan. 27. He has never played in Toronto, where the Wild are 0-4-0 all-time.