TSN Toronto reporter Mark Masters checks in with news and notes from Maple Leafs practices and game-day skates.

- No Leafs rookie is playing more than defenceman Nikita Zaitsev, who is second on the team in TOI/G (21:41). "He's ultra competitive and he's got a lot of upside that we haven't seen yet," Babcock said. "The more comfortable he gets the better he'll be." Babcock said Zaitsev is still catching up on things after missing a chunk of training camp due to the World Cup. "Comfort's an important thing for him. I think, he's starting to understand. Any time you're a player like him and it's in a different language as well and there's an overload of information, probably on game day you're thinking too much instead of playing so the more that becomes automatic and he doesn't think and he just lives off his instincts, which are really good, the better he'll be." 

- Zaitsev, who has starred in the KHL over the last few years, said the NHL experience has been everything he could have hoped for. "It's unbelievable," Zaitsev said. "I can't explain these feelings. It's perfect. I'm enjoying every minute. I didn't expect it was going to be so good here." Although the 24-year-old admits it has been a big adjustment. He said the NHL is a much different game than what he was used to in Russia. "I have to do different things. I'm doing it better every day. Coaches are helping a lot. It's hard to explain, but it's small things. It's different, it's really different."

- Frederik Andersen will start Wednesday night when the Maple Leafs play in Winnipeg. Jhonas Enroth will make his Toronto debut on Thursday night in Minnesota.

- Josh Leivo (lower body) will not accompany the Leafs on the road trip, which also includes a stop in Chicago on Saturday. He will remain in Toronto and work with Mike Ellis, the team's skill development consultant. "First thing he's got to do is be pain free," head coach Mike Babcock said when asked about Leivo's progress. 

- Wednesday's game will mark the first NHL showdown between the top two picks in June's draft. "It's definitely a media and fan story," Auston Matthews said. "I mean, I think both of us don't really look at it as a comparison, you know, it's the Toronto Maple Leafs against the Winnipeg Jets. It doesn't go much further." Although Babcock noted that Matthews probably can't help, but think about the situation. "You're not playing against each other: one's a winger, one's a centre, but, in saying that, you still want to be better than the other guy," the coach said. "I mean, on our team alone Mitch (Marner) wants to be better than William (Nylander) and Matty and they all think they're the best guy. I think that's important and the more good players you have around the more competition you have to be the best guy."

- Babcock will be looking for Matthews to be more like the player he was in Wednesday's debut in Ottawa. "His Game 1 was real good, his Game 2 was OK so, it's important, you want to have a real god game in Game 3, because you always want to be on a high note and want to ride that high note." This will be the first lengthy road trip for Matthews at the professional level. Last year, his longest journey in the Swiss league was a three and a half hour bus ride and his team never stayed overnight.

- Seth Griffith was once again the extra forward at practice. Babcock said the Leafs were in "no rush" to get him in a game. "He's a guy, who has to get up to speed," the coach noted. 

 

* Lines at Leafs practice: 

Hyman-Matthews-Nylander

van Riemsdyk-Bozak-Marner

Michalek-Kadri-Komarov

Martin-Holland-Brown

Griffith, Prust

 

Rielly-Marincin

Gardiner-Carrick

Hunwick-Zaitsev

 

Andersen

Enroth