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SPORTSCENTRE Reporter

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TSN Toronto reporter Mark Masters checks in with news and notes from Maple Leafs practices and game-day skates. The Leafs and St. Louis Blues skated at the Air Canada Centre Thursday morning ahead of tonight's game.  

- Frederik Andersen has struggled since the All-Star break, posting an ugly .833 save percentage in his last four starts. Meanwhile, back-up Curtis McElhinney has been excellent since arriving in Toronto, posting a .955 save percentage in three starts. But head coach Mike Babcock will stick with Andersen on Thursday against the Blues, a team that lit up the goalie just last week in St. Louis. "Well, it hasn't been good enough," said Babcock in assessing Andersen's recent stretch. "But there's times in the year you have little dips and you just have to make sure you work hard every day so those dips are shorter and don't happen as often. That's the challenge for him." Andersen is on pace to start about 67 games this season, which is a huge increase from his previous NHL high of 53. The 27-year-old is playing more than ever before and he's doing it in a season with a condensed schedule. Andersen was asked if he feels like he's wearing down a bit. "Nah, not really, I just got to keep working," he said. "We have a good [training] team that makes sure we're ready to go each game and get the right treatment to not cause injuries and you get your rest when you can." Andersen has faced the second most shots in the NHL this season (1,366). Only Edmonton's Cam Talbot has faced more rubber. 

"I thought Mac did a real good job last game for us," Babcock said. "Freddie goes tonight with an opportunity to bounce back. Our team was no good against St. Louis [last week], weren't competitive so this should be a better opportunity for Freddie. The team will play better and now he's got to do his part." After a wild 6-5 loss in Brooklyn on Monday, Andersen called on his teammates to play harder in front of the net and he liked the adjustments he saw in Tuesday's win against the Stars. "[McElhinney] obviously played a great game. He was able to find the loose pucks and I think the D was really good at helping him have a little extra time to find the puck and boxing out so that's one thing we did really good."

- Jake Allen believes he's finally on the right track after a nightmarish start to the season. The Blues netminder has posted a .954 save percentage in three starts since Ken Hitchcock was fired last week. "I think it's more mental than physical," Allen explained. "Just get back in and clear your brain a little bit and start to enjoy the game again, have some fun with it. People tend to overcomplicate things when, really, it's a simple game." Allen has benefited from working with assistant general manager Martin Brodeur, who took over as goalie coach last week when Jim Corsi was relieved of his duties. "He has so much experience and knowledge," Allen said. "He goes back to your basics. He preaches the principles, the minor things that sometimes get away from us now in today's game and it's really helped me." Allen notes that Brodeur didn't expect to be in this role this season, but has been incredibly modest while making the transition. "He's a humble, quiet, honest guy," Allen said. "He's the best goalie of all time and you'd never know. We're pretty fortunate to have him."

- Thursday marks the one-year anniversary of the Dion Phaneuf trade to Ottawa. The Leafs dealt their captain on the morning of a game day in Calgary. "I was in the lobby," Nazem Kadri recalled. "A few of us waited downstairs for him. We said our goodbyes and obviously it was an emotional time, but that's part of the business. That's probably the thing I hate most about the sport is having those [moments]." The team has played without a captain ever since. But this year it hasn't been a big issue. The team, despite boasting a rookie-heavy lineup, has avoided long losing streaks (a three game pointless drought was the worst skid) and tends to bounce back strongly from poor losses. How often do the four alternate captains – Morgan Rielly, Matt Hunwick, Leo Komarov and Tyler Bozak – have meetings? "There's no written down kind of schedule or anything," Rielly said. "It's just about being yourself, being a good teammate and making sure everybody feels comfortable, feels like equals and that's what we do in this room. "

- What's clear is the genuine admiration the Leafs veterans still have for Phaneuf, who was often the target of media and fan criticism during his six-year tenure in the centre of the hockey universe. "He was our leader, our captain, a really good guy, really good teammate, really good player and someone that everyone got along with and loved having around," Bozak said. With Phaneuf gone, Kadri has taken over as the guy responsible for playing pump-up music in the dressing room before games. Did Kadri learn anything from Phaneuf in that regard? "I didn't learn a whole lot from him, I don't think," he said with a smile. "Our genres really clashed too much. He's definitely an old-school-type guy." Kadri's smile faded a bit. "He definitely brought the energy to the room."

* Projected Leafs lines as written on Blues dressing room whiteboard:

van Riemsdyk-Bozak-Marner 
Komarov-Kadri-Nylander
Hyman-Matthews-Brown
Martin-Smith-Soshnikov  

Gardiner-Carrick 
Rielly-Zaitsev 
Hunwick-Polak 

Andersen 
McElhinney

Scratches: Leivo, Marincin, Marchenko