Maple Leafs ready to start another run

Before the Toronto Maple Leafs played the Florida Panthers two weeks ago, they were riding high on a three-game winning streak and establishing themselves as a legitimate playoff contender in a tight Eastern Conference race.

That game played out in embarrassing fashion for the Maple Leafs, who fell to their division rivals 7-2. Eleven different Panthers registered at least a point over 60 minutes of abysmal hockey by Toronto.

The response by the Maple Leafs to that loss could end up as a season-defining stretch. Toronto won four of its next five games, earning nine of a possible 10 points, and put themselves in prime position in the Atlantic Division’s third spot as they welcome in the Panthers for their fifth and final matchup on the schedule Tuesday night.

“Sometimes it’s better to get smacked,” Mike Babcock said of the last meeting. “When you get smacked, you get usually about two periods to watch the clock and it hardly moves. And you just sit there and you take your punishment and you get slapped and you get ready for the next day. We all need to get slapped once in a while.”

The only major blemish on Toronto’s record since then was a disappointing loss at the hands of another divisional foe on Saturday, but even that 5-2 loss to the Buffalo Sabres was just the Maple Leafs' third multi-goal defeat in March. Unfortunately, it ended up costing Toronto more than two points – goaltender Frederik Andersen suffered an upper-body injury in the first period and now he won’t play Tuesday. Curtis McElhinney will take the crease instead, with AHL call-up Garret Sparks backing him up.

For Toronto, adversity hasn’t always been a bad thing this season. They’ve followed up three of their last four losses by multiple goals with victories, and since dropping five straight by the end of their California road trip on March 3, the Maple Leafs haven’t lost consecutive games.

“We’re really good at letting things out of our mind after a game, that’s a strong suit for us,” said Mitch Marner. “That [last loss] is there, but at the same time, it’s do or die. We need to win every game. That’s how we’re always thinking about it. We live in the moment and have fun with it.”

Marner has claimed he doesn’t look at the NHL standings, despite them being posted each day in the Maple Leafs’ dressing room. If he did take a peek, he’d see the surging Tampa Bay Lightning within two points of Toronto for third place in the division, while the Boston Bruins remain one point back.

The Maple Leafs have a game in hand on each team, but between the disheartening defeat in Buffalo and the loss of their starting goaltender, Toronto’s resiliency has never been more important.

“I don’t think there’s any excuse not to be ready regardless of what happened the game before,” Morgan Rielly said. “This is new territory for a lot guys to be playing in these meaningful games. It’s a good feeling and it’s a great opportunity for us to prove we’re ready to be a contender in this league.”

Babcock was emphatic in Buffalo about how short lulls have to be at this time of year, and his players appear to have taken that to heart. The team had a spirited practice on Monday and equally energetic morning skate on Tuesday.

“The way I look at it is, let’s just get back on another run,” Babcock said. “We have to play right to be successful and when we don’t play right it’s evident quickly in games that we’re not having much success offensively or defensively so let’s just play right.”

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Morning skate notes

- Andersen did a short one-on-one session with goaltending coach Steve Briere before the team assembled for the morning skate. He then occupied the backup’s net, while Sparks, who will actually back up McElhinney on Tuesday, took no reps with the main group. According to Andersen, he was trying to follow a similar routine to what he’d do on a normal game day as he waits to be cleared to return by the medical staff. “I felt pretty good. It’s tough to compare [from day to day], but it’s looking pretty positive,” he said. “Any time you come back from an injury you just want to make sure you feel as close as you can be. At this time of year you don’t want to waste too much time getting there so you want to work hard and make sure you get there as quick as possible.” Babcock offered no timetable on a potential return for his starter. Andersen said he’d be back “when I’m ready to play” but that it was still tough to know when that would be.

- Josh Leivo returned to skate after missing Saturday’s game in Buffalo and Monday’s practice with an undisclosed injury suffered in Thursday’s game. That had been his first action in three weeks, and Leivo even scored Toronto’s first goal. Whether Leivo could return now or not wasn’t made totally clear in Babcock's answer when asked about the winger’s situation. “You got to find a way to stay healthy, you’ve got to keep your job when you get it,” he said. So [Kasperi Kapanen]’s job is to make sure he doesn’t get it.”