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SPORTSCENTRE Reporter

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TSN Toronto reporter Mark Masters checks in daily with news and notes on the Maple Leafs who practised on Monday at the MasterCard Centre. Tuesday will be a day off for the Leafs ahead of Wednesday’s game against the Washington Capitals.

Mike Babcock has remained fairly optimistic as his team goes through its toughest stretch of the season. While the Toronto Maple Leafs coach worked his players hard on the ice in Monday's practice with more time at the white board than usual, the Toronto head coach is reinforcing the positives off the ice. 

"You try to show them their good clips," Babcock said. "You try to show them how they play when they play well. And you can’t talk to them every single day either. You got to let them breathe a little bit here, too. It’s some adversity. We’re going through it. We’ve earned it. We got to earn our way out."

The Leafs have lost seven of 10 games and 11 of 20 dating back to Dec. 6. Babcock met with the team's leadership group today to go over things and take the temperature of the room. 

"It’s not by much we're losing a lot of these games," noted alternate captain John Tavares, "but we certainly know we have a better level of consistency and better level of play we can get to so it’s about working towards that."

After Sunday's 4-2 loss to the Arizona Coyotes, Tavares described this as a "great challenge of character" for the team. 

Despite sitting just two points up on eighth place in the Eastern Conference, the atmosphere in the Leafs room remains upbeat. 

"We got a quiet confidence and a quiet swagger that can carry us through this type of adversity," said Nazem Kadri. "This latest stretch we've had will make us a better team and teach us to dig in ... This was one of the more beneficial practices that we’ve had all year. It's nice to see guys working hard and staying motivated."

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Despite owning an abundance of offensive skill, the Leafs have drawn the fewest power-play opportunities in the NHL this season. It's baffling to the players. 

"I have no idea," said Kadri when asked for his theory. "I’m not quite sure teams are playing that clean against us. But, that’s something out of our hands."

Toronto takes the fewest penalties in the NHL, which Babcock suggests is a factor in his team getting less calls. 

"If you do a little study on the league, if you don’t take a lot of penalties, you don’t get a lot of power plays," the coach noted, "it just seems like there’s a little line item there. It is what it is. I’m not spending a whole lot of time worrying about that."

The bigger issue is converting when they do get chances. The Leafs failed to cash-in on their one opportunity against Arizona in Sunday’s loss. Toronto's power play started scorching hot, but is just 28th in the NHL since Dec. 2. 

Does the lack of chances impact the ability for the groups to get in a rhythm? 

"Well, no question," said Tavares. "I mean, we don't get many chances at all. It’s been tough. I think in Florida we had 40 seconds so, you know, it’s really tough to get some type of rhythm, some type of feel and we’re working on it in practice, but certainly with us pre-scouting other teams and other teams pre-scouting us, at times it’s hard to make adjustments. You’re trying to keep things simple, but at times when you do have a lack of opportunities, it’s hard to count on one or two shots on net to always generate the results you want."

Special teams work was a prominent part of Monday's practice and after the main session wrapped up assistant coach Jim Hiller, who oversees the power play, called the top unit over for a chat. 

"As a power play guy, when you’re on the power play you get to feel the puck, sometimes you don’t score, but you still get to touch it and feel it," Babcock acknowledged. "That’s part of it, for sure. In saying that, we had a power play last night and we didn’t use it. You get your opportunity and you want to make good on it and we didn’t. We focused on that here today. We'll focus on that again prior to next game and try to be better at it."

The Leafs need to get some of their slumping scorers going and the power play could be a great place for guys like Auston Matthews (one goal in 13 games) and William Nylander (one goal in 20 games) to get firing again.

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Babcock got his blender out at practice shaking up all his forward lines. In a rare move, Matthews and Mitch Marner skated together alongside veteran Patrick Marleau. The pals have rarely played together at even strength during their time in Toronto. 

“We haven’t won enough games here lately,” Babcock explained. “I like the process we went through last night. I liked the work we put in. I like how much we had the puck. The bottom line is we didn’t generate enough offence.”

Matthews has now gone three games without a point. 

"Sometimes stuff gets stale and you switch things up," Matthews said, "and you get maybe a little pep in your step playing with other guys that you don’t usually get to play with so hopefully we ignite something here."

"Everyone knows how good his shot is," Marner noted, "so, for me, when I get the puck (it's about) trying to find him in open areas to release it. Also, when we’re in-zone just trying to be there for support, make sure I’m talking to him on the ice. We haven’t played together a whole lot so there’ll be some warming up to do, but we’ll have to do it quick."

Matthews has been getting chances, but can't seem to break through. Enter Marner, who has produced consistently all season and leads the Leafs with 61 points in 48 games. 

"He’s obviously a special player," said Matthews. "He makes guys around him better. So, when you play with guys like that it kind of elevates your game and you want to be better as well. He competes."

Babcock pointed out that Marner usually gets matched against other top lines, which raises the stakes for those who line up beside him. 

"That means you have to really commit without the puck so that’s the challenge," Babcock said. "Tavares has done a great job for us like that. So, we’ll change things around for a bit. I’m not telling you it will last warm-up, a period, a game, it’s just what we had today for the skate."

Marner and Matthews have bonded off the ice becoming close friends. How much will that help on the ice?

"Hopefully a lot," Marner said. "We’re roommates on the road so we hang out quite a bit. We've played together before. We’ve had the chemistry out there. I’ve played with Patty before and so has Mats so we’re very used to him so that’s good. We got a lot of speed on our line so we got to make sure we use it and make sure we’re making it hard on the D."

The shakeup means that Tavares and Marner, Toronto's most consistent duo all season, has been split up. 

"With the depth of our hockey team and skill-set we have on all four lines, you know, it’s a great opportunity for everyone to play with each other and I think it’s a big strength of our team and something we want to use to our advantage," Tavares said. "It's a way to try and spark the group."

https://www.tsn.ca/nhl/video/friendship-line-marleau-matthews-marner-get-rare-chance-to-play-together~1590680 

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Lines at Monday’s Leafs practice: 

Forwards
Marleau-Matthews-Marner
Hyman-Tavares-Kapanen
Brown-Kadri-Nylander
Lindholm-Gauthier-Holl

Defencemen
Rielly-Hainsey
Dermott-Zaitsev
Marincin-Ozhiganov

Goaltenders
Andersen 
Sparks 

Absent: Gardiner (back spasms), Johnsson (concussion), Ennis (broken ankle)

Power play units at Monday’s Leafs practice: 

Rielly
Matthews-Kadri-Marner
Tavares 

Dermott 
Holl-Kapanen-Nylander 
Marleau