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TSN Toronto Maple Leafs Reporter

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The Maple Leafs dressing room was packed to the hilt Tuesday morning, with a crush of Canadian media eager to talk to Auston Matthews about the evening’s matchup against Patrik Laine and the Winnipeg Jets.

Seated at the opposite end of the room from the Matthews’ scrum, goaltender Frederik Andersen took in the chaos that has become a regular occurrence during his first season in Toronto.

“If I had walked into a room with this many people before coming here, I would have been like, ‘What is going on?’ I look around now, and this is normal,” said Andersen. “I’ve been growing into it, embracing it and not trying to hide from it. I know the media isn’t really against us.” 

While admitting Matthews “gets the worst of” the media attention, Andersen has also been under the microscope all season, and even more so recently. Toronto’s starter has only two wins over his last eight games, with a .857 save percentage. Many of the issues that plagued him early in the year – poor positioning, inefficiency in his movements – have been cropping up again, and Toronto’s inconsistent defence hasn’t afforded him much help.

Meanwhile, backup goalie Curtis McElhinney has been fantastic since his arrival from Columbus in mid-January, going 3-3-0 with 2.08 goals-against average and a .938 save percentage. Andersen’s playing time doesn’t appear to be in jeopardy, but having the veteran in the fold and performing like he is provides Andersen with a motivational push.

“It’s great to have good competitiveness within your team. Every time Mac plays well it pushes me to play well,” Andersen said. “Even with the shooters in practice, I’m trying to dial it up where I’m not letting them beat me so they’ll be better in games. We’ve all been really pushing each other.”

Andersen last faced the Jets in Toronto’s third game of the season, a 5-4 overtime loss despite the Maple Leafs holding a 4-0 lead in the second period. Laine completed his first career hat trick when he fired home the game-winner.

“You guys like to look back at that,” Andersen joked about the first game. “We’ve built a lot in this group [since]. People talk about how young we are, but we’ve been adding a lot of experience throughout the year and I think it’s been showing lately. We’re excited to play against these guys again, not just to get revenge, but to keep up with this race in our division.”

Toronto’s current stretch of four wins over their last 12 games has made taking a firm hold on a playoff spot impossible. Heading into Tuesday night, they’re sitting in ninth place in the Eastern Conference, one point back of Boston and Florida.

While Andersen does keep an eye on the standings, he notes how futile it is to be caught up in positioning when the margins between teams are so miniscule. Instead, Andersen sees the team’s 4-0 win over Carolina on Sunday as a bigger indicator of where they can go from here.

“It’s one of those where you feel like you’ve been on the wrong side of some breaks and things haven’t been going the way you wanted, and then you play a great game and you start fighting your way out of it,” he said. “You can feel things starting to go your way.”

Morning skate notes

- Mitch Marner will miss his third straight game on Tuesday, and was placed on IR retroactive to Feb. 15. He could be back as soon as Thursday, but Babcock listed him as “day-to-day” and said that usually means about 10 days. Having him out of the lineup is a break for the Jets, who are dealing with the loss of defenceman Jacob Trouba (suspension) on their blueline.

- After being a healthy scratch in Monday’s Toronto Marlies’ game, Frederik Gauthier was recalled by the Maple Leafs and will slot in Tuesday night for fourth-line centre Ben Smith. Smith has been struggling of late, particularly in the faceoff dot where he’s consistently lauded for his skills. He’s averaged a 32.6 per cent success rate on draws over his last three games, and only 48.8 per cent in the 10 games since he returned from a broken hand. Babcock ultimately decided it was time for a change, saying he’s giving Smith “a reset” before getting him back in the lineup. Meanwhile, Gauthier didn’t even get confirmation of his recall until this morning, but with the Marlies playing a nearly identical system to the Maple Leafs, the transition is easier. “There are a few adjustments, but I just have to be more mean, be heavy down low,” Gauthier said. “That’s something I previously worked on and I want to bring that back and get better and better every game.”

- Laine got most of the attention in the Jets room ahead of Tuesday’s game, commanding a scrum of reporters for more than 20 minutes, but it’s the man centering his line that Babcock had the highest praise for. “Mark Scheifele, in my opinion, is one of the best centers in the league. I think he’s a real hockey player,” Babcock said. “In fairness to Auston, we play him with two kids [Connor Brown and Zach Hyman] all the time. Obviously [the Jets] have to worry about Matthews, but we have to worry about Laine, and because of the package they have, with [Blake] Wheeler and [Bryan] Little on the other line. They’ve got good forwards here.”

- For the second time this season, forward Brooks Laich has been placed on waivers by the Maple Leafs. After clearing waivers the first time on Oct. 10, Laich was assigned to the Toronto Marlies the next day and has spent the entirety of his season there. It hasn’t been a very productive one - In 22 AHL games, Laich has amassed just six points (one goal, five assists) and is without a point his last eight games. Laich also missed 20 games from Dec. 18 to Feb. 7 with an undisclosed injury. Following Monday’s 4-2 win over the Binghamton Senators, Laich expressed in the media that if he’s not going to be part of the Maple Leafs’ plans, he wants to go elsewhere. His six-year, $27- million contract expires at the end of this season.