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SPORTSCENTRE Reporter

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TSN Toronto reporter Mark Masters checks in daily with news and notes from Maple Leafs practices and game-day skates. The Maple Leafs practised at the Mastercard Centre on Monday.

​Auston Matthews missed practice on Monday, but there's hope that Toronto's top-line centre will return soon. Head coach Mike Babcock confirmed that Matthews, who has missed the last three games with an upper-body injury, skated before practice and is scheduled to skate again on Tuesday. If all goes well, Matthews will practise on Wednesday before a decision on his status for Thursday's game against the New Jersey Devils is made. He hasn't skated with teammates since playing in last Monday's win against the Vegas Golden Knights. 

Rest is a weapon; Nylander, Bozak sit out 

Despite taking Sunday off, the players will get another day off on Tuesday to catch their breath after a frenetic stretch that saw them play 10 games in 17 days. 

"It has felt very busy," Nazem Kadri acknowledged, "especially over the last couple weeks. There hasn't been much R and R time, it has just been constant go, go, go."

A couple regulars got extra rest on Monday as Tyler Bozak (maintenance) and William Nylander (illness) sat out practice. 

“Just taking this time to kind of try to clear the bumps and the bruises and try to get guys back to 100 per cent,” Kadri said. “Over the course of the season, things are going to happen and you’re not going to feel your best every single game so it’s important to have these stretches to try to get back to that.”

It's easier to enjoy the down time when you're riding a four-game winning streak.

“Our defensive play has been night and day," said Connor Brown. “I think just being above the puck. Our (forwards) are tracking hard and catching guys from behind. We’re playing in better positions, but we’re also just working harder away from the puck and we got to continue to build on that if we want to keep winning."

Babcock has reminded his players how quickly a winning streak turned into a losing streak earlier this season. 

“The last time we got feeling good we stopped working, so we got to make sure we keep working this time," Babcock noted. 

The coach was also quick to point out that Toronto's next opponent, the Devils, "spanked us last time we played them."

New Jersey beat Toronto 6-3 on Oct. 11 at the Air Canada Centre, handing the Leafs their first loss of the season.

Komarov on Marchand kiss: "I kind of liked it"

Leo Komarov was matched up against Boston's top line during much of the recent home-and-home set, which meant he saw a lot of Brad Marchand. Marchand has been known to play mind games on the ice with his opponents and Saturday night was no exception. At one point, Komarov tied up Marchand at the end of a play and the agitating Bruins winger gave him a kiss on the cheek. 

“I told him I have a wife and a baby so I can’t do it right now," Komarov said. 

Has that ever happened to him before in any league? 

“Ahh, it happens sometimes," he said with a shrug. "I mean, it is what it is.

The incident amused Kadri, Komarov's linemate and good buddy. 

“Everyone just seems to be a big fan of Leo," he said. "I’m not quite sure what it is. I didn’t really see it. I just saw the video and I saw him talking about it afterwards, which I thought was pretty hilarious. I don’t really know what (Marchand) was thinking there. Maybe he thought he was on the Kiss Cam or something.”

Did it bother Komarov? 

“No," he said with a grin. "I kind of liked it.”

Kadri's not sure how he'd react if someone did that to him. 

"I’d be, like, very confused," he said. "I’d just find it a bizarre and odd situation and not quite sure how I’d react.”

 

Brown responds to Rielly's fantasy football critique 

It may still be early in the NHL regular season, but the NFL campaign has already passed its midpoint, which means the Leafs’ fantasy football playoff race is reaching the stretch drive. During an interview on TSN 1050's OverDrive program last week, defenceman Morgan Rielly criticized Brown for his trading record. 

"We call Brownie the Town Bicycle just because his trades in fantasy are so bad," Rielly told hosts Bryan Hayes, Jeff O'Neill and Jamie McLennan. "He gets fleeced. He's basically giving away his team. So, me and Bozie will be walking around and be like, 'Who are you giving away today?' He's just giving away his team to everybody else. Everyone else is taking him for a ride."

After Monday's practice, Brown hit back. 

"He's just blowing smoke," Brown said with a smile. "He's got a worse team than mine. He's out of the playoffs so I don't know why he's going on the air talking about that. I'm getting tweets at me talking about how bad my team is. It's a joke ... I'm in the playoffs, I'm in the seventh seed."

Brown also noted his savvy pick up of Giants receiver Sterling Shepard this week paid huge dividends. 

Meanwhile, how's Rielly's team doing? 

"I think they're in the nine hole now or something," Brown said. "They're on the outside looking in and it's not looking good."

So, perhaps some jealously at play? 

"I don't know," Brown said with a chuckle. "He's just belittling people around him to make himself feel better, but if that's what he's got to do, that's what he's got to do." 

Lines at Monday's practice

Forwards
Komarov-Kadri-Polak
Hyman-Marleau-Brown
van Riemsdyk-Gauthier-Marne
Martin-Moore-Leivo 

Defencemen
Rielly-Hainsey
Gardiner-Zaitsev 
Borgman-Carrick

Goalies
Andersen
McElhinney

Absent: Matthews, Bozak, Nylander