Columnist image

SPORTSCENTRE Reporter

| Archive

TSN Toronto reporter Mark Masters checks in daily with news and notes from Maple Leafs practices and game-day skates. The Leafs practiced Wednesday one day after falling to the Florida Panthers 7-2, and one day before visiting the Tampa Bay Lightning.

- Mike Babcock was smiling broadly when his media session started on Wednesday just hours after the Leafs were thrashed 7-2 by the Florida Panthers. "I was glad to see that sun this morning, I'll tell ya," the coach quipped. 

Babcock ran a fairly routine practice in the aftermath of the disappointing effort. There was no yelling or conditioning skating. The message? "You have to enjoy the process, enjoy the grind and fighting through your own thoughts to get back positive and get going again," Babcock said. "We got out here and kind of cleaned the mechanism out and got back at it. Get your joy level up and let's get ready." 

So, was he stressing the positives to his players? "I didn't do that," he said. "But I didn't dwell on last night. I hardly talked about last night. I just got ready for tomorrow. I can't do anything about yesterday. If I had it all back, what would I do different? I already went through all that. But that does me no good here today and I'm a big believer that you live in the moment with everything you do in life."

What was the lesson from Tuesday's shellacking? "Basically just don't do what we did last game is kind of what it comes down to," Jake Gardiner said. And Babcock certainly isn't standing pat. The Leafs bench boss is tweaking his lineup ahead of Tuesday's crucial encounter in Tampa Bay. Morgan Rielly (-20 rating in 20 GP since returning from a high ankle sprain) and Nikita Zaitsev (-17 in the last 20 GP) were split up midway through Tuesday's outing and remained split at Wednesday's workout. Rielly skated with Alexey Marchenko while Zaitsev was with Gardiner. Babcock was blunt when asked what he's looking for from the new alignment. "Well, I'm looking for the puck not to go in the net. Sometimes you just fix something to fix it. So, right now, it's not as smooth as it should be and it needs to get better because we got good players in those positions."

-Gardiner was asked what stands out about Zaitsev and how the pair may mesh. The Russian rookie was sitting two stalls away in the visiting dressing room inside Amalie Arena. "Nikita, what do you want me to say?" Gardiner asked with a smile. Matt Hunwick, sitting nearby, chuckled while Zaitsev, who leads the Leafs in ice time (22:18 per game), sat stone-faced staring ahead. Gardiner turned his attention back to the media. "He's a smart player so it will be pretty easy to play with him," he said. 

A few minutes later Zaitsev held court with a small group of journalists and admitted the latest performance was weighing on him. "I didn't do a good job," he said. "I (was on the ice for) five goals against. Yeah. Not the best game." Will he need to have a short memory? "I don't have a short memory so that's my problem, I think. Yeah, I think about it a lot." 

At one point on Wednesday, Babcock overheard Zaitsev asking assistant coach D.J. Smith if he had set an NHL record by posting a minus-four rating in one game. "Some of the clips that he was on the highlights for he probably would not like to be on the highlights," Babcock said. "That's part of being a good player. We put him out there against the best players. We expect him to be a good player and he's been beyond resilient and ultra-competitive so I expect him to be back." 

The record for worst plus-minus in a game (-7) is shared by Doug Wilson and Chris Butler. As for partnering with Gardiner, Zaitsev wasn't sure how that would go. "I don't know. We'll see tomorrow," he said. "The game will show." 

The Auston Matthews point drought extended to six games on Tuesday making it the longest of his young NHL career. "I think the message in this locker room is just to forget about it, learn from it and move on to this next game," Matthews said when asked about the setback in Sunrise. 

Meanwhile, the right wing revolving door continued to turn on his line. William Nylander was back with Matthews at practice, replacing Connor Brown. "Whether it's Brownie or Willie, it doesn't matter. I've played enough with both guys this year to develop chemistry and be able to make plays with them." 

Matthews has logged a lot of minutes this season dating back to the World Cup. He didn't get the all-star break off and he continues to lead the Leafs forwards in ice time (17:48 per game). So, what's his energy level right now? "It's fine," Matthews said. "Nobody's really 100 per cent at this point of the season. Mentally, you just want to stay strong and make sure you're preparing well, eating the right food, getting enough sleep at night to make sure you're ready to play." Is the grind of an 82 game NHL season more challenging mentally or physically? "It's a little bit of both. It's definitely in between the ears as well as it is physically. It's a long season, it definitely takes a toll on your body, but, for us, it's no excuse, everybody's going through the same thing."

-The Leafs play the Lightning (12-2-3 since Feb. 4) on Thursday before returning home for dates against the Chicago Blackhawks (14-3-0 since the start of February) on Saturday and Boston Bruins (11-3-0 since losing to the Leafs on Feb. 4) on Monday. Then Toronto will head to Columbus to face the Blue Jackets (9-3-1 since beating the Leafs on Feb. 15). 

After falling out of a playoff spot Tuesday, the situation is looking dire. Perhaps it was moments like this that Leafs management had in mind when they acquired veteran Brian Boyle before the trade deadline. The 32-year-old centre, who was among the few bright spots for the Leafs against the Panthers, is warning his younger teammates that playoff races aren't to be taken for granted. "We need to all understand that this is a great opportunity for us. It doesn't always come around. Playoff berths are tough to get. It's not automatic just because you have a young team that the following year you're going to be good." Boyle pointed to Tampa Bay's struggles this year as proof of how quickly a team can go from Cup contender to on the playoff bubble. "I don't think anybody was OK with what happened last night," he said. "We're not just here for the ride and if we get in, we get in. We're making a push here. We want to get in and how that unfolded last night was an embarrassment for us. We were all embarrassed so we got back to work today."

Thursday's game against the Lightning will also serve as a homecoming for Boyle, who spent three seasons in Tampa Bay. "Obviously they got rid of me, they traded me, I guess they didn't need me that much," Boyle, a pending UFA, said with a grin. "So, I've got to go out and prove, 'Listen, I'm on this team now. I'm here to win.'" Boyle admitted the warm-up will be weird as he looks over and sees so many former teammates and friends, but he's determined to put any and all emotions aside. "There's a lot at stake here. You have to be a pro and get over that in a hurry and go out and compete and battle and try to help these guys in here. (The Leafs) gave up something to get me and it's on me to make sure I do my best to help this team going forward. And that's my responsibility. This is the team I'm part of now and I'm really excited about that. There's a lot of attention on that after the deadline and you've got to show them what you've got. It's up to me. I've got to be at my best. I've got some friends over here, but it's put on pause for sure."

* Lines at Wednesday's practice: 

Hyman-Matthews-Nylander
Komarov-Kadri-Brown
van Riemsdyk-Bozak-Marner
Martin-Fehr^-Soshnikov 
Smith, Leivo

^ Boyle didn't skate

Gardiner-Zaitsev
Rielly-Marchenko 
Hunwick-Polak
Marincin-Carrick

Andersen
McElhinney