TSN Toronto reporter Mark Masters checks in daily with news and notes on the Maple Leafs. The team practised at the MasterCard Centre on Wednesday.
With Auston Matthews out, the Toronto Maple Leafs will lean heavily on John Tavares and Nazem Kadri in the coming weeks. Both played more than 21 minutes in Monday’s loss to the Calgary Flames, but neither centre generated much at even strength. Afterwards it was striking to hear how different the former London Knights linemates sounded.
"We'll just call that a wash, move on and worry about the next one," Kadri said defiantly. "We're more than fine, just a few bad periods."
Meanwhile, Tavares declared it a lesson for the team.
"We know we can be a lot better starting with myself," the ex-Islanders captain stated glumly.
What is it about Kadri that allows him to take adversity in stride?
"I don't know," he said. "I just always kind of had that stress-free personality. You’re doing yourself no favours going back and constantly reminding yourself and beating yourself up over it so I just like to turn the page and worry about the next one."
So, why was Monday’s performance – which saw the Leafs generate just four shots in the first period – nothing to get worked up about?
"Because that's not how we play." Kadri explained. "That was kind of a specific scenario. You got to give credit to the Flames. They did a great job of getting us off our game and frustrating us a little bit. I don’t think you’ll see that very often."
The Kadri swagger is nothing new for Tavares, his old road roommate in the OHL.
"I always call him, 'A gamer,' " Tavares recalled with a smile. "He just doesn’t let a whole lot bother him. He just trusts his game and who he is and what he does and how he goes about his business."
Tavares has always been more on the contemplative side.
“For me, its ebbs and flows," he explained. "No question, I think Naz is able to just move forward and know there’s going to be that next opportunity. I think I’ve gotten a lot better at that. I know when I was younger I used to carry it quite a bit ... I definitely handle it a lot better than I used to."
Each approach can be successful.
"Johnny's always a type of guy who's able to respond," Kadri said. "And when he has off nights or the team has off nights he's usually a guy to put his foot in the door and make a difference next game. So, we have all the belief in the world."
Kadri has scored in three straight games, but following a hot start Tavares has just one goal and one assist in the last five. After signing a huge contract and being named an alternate captain, Tavares is expected to produce and he knows it.
"With a young group you want to try and set that example," he noted. "As a team, if we don’t play well or individually you don’t play well, I think the first thing you have to do is look yourself in the mirror and ask, you know, if you reached the level you want to be at ... you feel that responsibility and you want to play at that level and have that commitment on a daily basis."
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Monday was only the latest uneven performance by the Leafs at Scotiabank Arena where they’re 3-4-0 on the season. Toronto survived a slow start against the Winnipeg Jets with a furious third-period comeback on Saturday, but in two home games prior to that, the Leafs were shut out by the Pittsburgh Penguins and held in check by the St. Louis Blues.
Even good teams will have rough patches, but head coach Mike Babcock is hoping his group can achieve a higher baseline level like more "battle-tested" teams.
"When I look at two teams in our league like Tampa and Nashville, for example, to me they’ve been through it. They’ve been grinding, they’ve been doing it for a number of years. You get an identity and I think you can get back to it and I think be more consistent," Babcock said. "We’re trying to find our way. We look like a real good team some nights and then other nights we're not as good. We have to find a way to do it right every day and an internal accountability to make each other do it right every day."
During the course of an 82-game regular season there will be some nights when a team simply doesn’t have it. Pucks are bouncing off sticks and ending up in the back of the net. That was the case against the Flames when a Morgan Rielly pass to Mitch Marner in the Leafs zone in the third period hit off the winger's stick becoming a turnover and moments later an Elias Lindholm game-winning goal.
"It’s a long season and you’re not going to feel great every night," Tavares said. "You're not always going to have your best, but you have to find a way to have that intensity and to understand the level we need to play at and how we need to keep pushing that level."
While Kadri’s personality helped him stay the course during the nine-game goal drought he endured to open the season, Babcock seems to be hoping for more of the Tavares approach inside the dressing room right now.
"When you get on real good teams, as much fun as you have, sometimes those are grumpier teams, because you make each other accountable and we have to do that here," Babcock noted. "When you sit down with people you love at your kitchen table at home, if you say something stupid someone in your family calls you on it every single time. If you do anything out of line in your family they keep you grounded ... That same kind of love needs to be in our room."
Babcock called out his top players after the latest loss and will be looking for a bounce-back effort on Thursday against the Stars, who lost to the Leafs 7-4 on Oct. 9 in Dallas.
"It looks to me, when I watch the National Hockey League, and I don’t know about you guys, but every team can beat everybody," Babcock said. "If you’re not prepared, not ready to go and not going to do it right, you’re not going to win."
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Babcock reunited Zach Hyman and Tavares with Mitch Marner late in Monday’s loss and the trio remained together at practice. Kasperi Kapanen skated with Patrick Marleau and Kadri.
The big shakeup, however, came on the power play. At Wednesday’s practice, Tavares moved from the net-front position to Matthews' spot on the left flank where Kapanen had filled in on Monday. Tavares played that role at times in New York and isn't expecting a huge adjustment. Meanwhile, Marleau was promoted to the top unit and took over as the net-front presence.
On the second unit, Hyman slotted in as the net-front presence and appears poised to get consistent power-play minutes for the first time in the NHL. After Wednesday's practice ended, Hyman stayed out late for extra work with assistant coach Jim Hiller, who is responsible for the power play.
After a scintillating 9-for-19 start, the Leafs are just 1-for-12 on the man advantage over the last five games. The one goal came on Monday mere seconds after a two-man advantage had ended.
"We’re just getting a little too cute," Kadri admitted. "I think we have to simplify more and get back to what was bringing us success. We have to get back to our roots and find plays that are more simple. A good power play generates a lot of looks and is always unpredictable so that’s what we have to start understanding. We have the skill-set to make those nice plays, but sometimes you have to just outnumber people and jam a couple in."
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Ron Hainsey will play in NHL game No. 1,000 on Thursday. The 37-year-old American did his best to downplay the achievement during a rare media scrum following Wednesday's practice.
"We seem to count games in hockey for whatever reason," he told a group of reporters including the Leafs Nation Network. "I'm a big sports fan. I couldn’t tell you the number of games my favourite sportsmen have played in other sports. It’s just not an overly concerning thing."
Lines at Wednesday’s practice:
Hyman-Tavares-Marner
Marleau-Kadri-Kapanen
Johnsson-Lindholm-Brown
Ennis-Gauthier-Leivo
Rielly-Hainsey
Gardiner-Zaitsev
Marincin-Ozhiganov
Dermott-Holl
Andersen
Sparks
Power-play units at Wednesday’s practice:
Rielly
Tavares-Kadri-Marner
Marleau
Gardiner
Ennis-Johnsson-Leivo
Hyman