"Do I see minus 17?": NHL analyst weighs in on Toronto Maple Leafs' 'miserable night' as Matthews-Marner scramble against Carolina Hurricanes

The Toronto Maple Leafs fell 6-3 to the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday night at Lenovo Center. It snapped their five-game winning streak and dropped their record to 27-14-2 on the season.

While they remain first in the Atlantic Division with 56 points, four points ahead of the Florida Panthers, last night was disappointing. The Maple Leafs top line of Auston Matthews (-6), Mitch Marner (-6) and Matthew Knies (-5) combined for a -17 rating, the worst plus-minus from three linemates since 2003.

Aaron Korolnek of "First Up" weighed in this morning on an unusual night for the Maple Leafs and their top forwards.

"Just a miserable night for the top line of Matthews, Marner and Knies," Korolnek said. ... "If you have somehow in fantasy hockey, you have that trio, You're like, 'Oh, I have Matthews Marner and Knies on my team. My team's gonna be incredible.' And then you wake up this morning like, 'Sorry. Do I see -17?' ...

"And I think it's safe to say that of every Eastern Conference potential playoff opponent, if I was selecting the team I wouldn't want to play, of every team in the Eastern Conference, I think Carolina is No. 1. That's the worst matchup for the Leafs, and Toronto has now lost five straight games to Carolina. Yeah, which is an interesting stat, but you can almost see why Carolina is a team that just gives Toronto problems."

Luckily for the Maple Leafs and their fans, it's unlikely they'll see the Carolina Hurricanes in the first or second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Toronto Maple Leafs top line had been red hot entering Thursday night

What made Thursday night's debacle even more staggering was the fact that Matthews, Marner and Knies had been on fire since the captain returned from injury.

In their first three games back together as a line, all three forwards had racked up seven points, respectively. Matthews had two goals and five assists, Marner had one goal and six assists and Knies had five goals and two assists. That was good for a combined 21 points in just three games, total dominance from the Maple Leafs' trio.

It's not often that you see this type of performance from Toronto's star players, so it's fair to expect to see them at their best moving forward.

The Maple Leafs and their top line will look to get bet back on track on Saturday night when they host the Vancouver Canucks at Scotiabank Arena. The puck drops at 7 p.m. ET.