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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 Leafs and Sabres held morning skates at the Air Canada Centre on Monday.

Travis Dermott appears to have dodged a major injury. The Maple Leafs defenceman left Saturday's game against the Winnipeg Jets in pain after taking a Ben Chiarot slap shot off his right foot. Dermott will sit out Monday's game against the Sabres, but the injury shouldn't jeopardize his availability for the playoffs. 

"They did the X-ray and it was negative," head coach Mike Babcock said. "Then they did the CT scan and it was negative ... Now he's walking around and all that so it's just give him a couple of days here and he should be up and running."

In Dermott's absence tonight, Connor Carrick will draw in and play with Morgan Rielly. Ron Hainsey will shift over to his natural left side and play with Nikita Zaitsev. Jake Gardiner and Roman Polak, who played together during much of Zaitsev's injury absence this season, have been reunited. 

"Left and right shots," Babcock explained, "and also Zaitsev and Hainsey play together a fair bit after power plays and stuff like that so we're going to go with that tonight – to start anyway – and see how it goes. Just left and right shots and it gives us a chance to do something else. Plus, we didn't play with the kind of intensity we needed last time we played Buffalo and, so, going with that."

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Leo Komarov, who returned from a lower-body injury on Saturday, will sit out tonight's game, but Babcock stressed the Finn had not tweaked the injury and he will play in the two remaining games. Nazem Kadri, Komarov's good friend, was asked if getting the gritty winger to agree to take a day off may be tough. 

"I'm not sure," Kadri said with a grin. "Now that he's got his kid and stuff he might need more than he's used to. It's nice for some guys to take some time to recuperate not only physically, but mentally."

"The nice thing about those things is they're out of your control," said James van Riemsdyk. "Whatever they think is best for you, you're going to do."

Kasperi Kapanen will also be a healthy scratch tonight as Andreas Johnsson and Matt Martin draw in. After tonight, Martin will have been a scratch in 28 of 31 games with all three of his games played coming against the Sabres. 

Curtis McElhinney will start in goal as Frederik Andersen gets another night off. 

The lineup shuffle is mostly about getting players who haven't suited up in a while some ice time. 

"We have lots of rest so I'm not too concerned about that," Babcock said. "We have so many opportunities for days off here coming up and then just the playoff schedule comes. I'm not really concerned about that. We've given Freddie more than a long break here so then we'll give him two games going in. As far as the game today, we want to play well, want to play hard and want to execute. We played four in six, had a day off, we need to get our energy back and get going."

Chad Johnson will start for the Sabres. He's 7-1-1 with a .934 save percentage in his career against Toronto. 

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Jack Eichel and Auston Matthews have faced off five times in the NHL. Eichel has nine points in those games and Matthews has four. The Sabres have won three of the games, including last week when Eichel scored twice. On one of the goals he stole the puck from Matthews’ right before scoring. So, does Eichel have the advantage in the personal rivalry? 

“No, not really, no," Eichel said shaking his head. "He’s going to the playoffs."

The stark reality for Eichel, who had five assists in Buffalo's upset win over Nashville on Saturday, is that whatever happens tonight his season will end on Saturday while his good buddy will be in the postseason for a second straight year. 

"I know he wants to win," Matthews said. "I think, especially for a lot of young guys coming into the NHL, you don’t really play on too many bad teams. You’re always on a team that wins (growing up) and that’s kind of been the case for him so I’m sure it’s tough. But they got some good pieces, some young guys like (Casey) Mittelstadt who are coming up and Willie’s brother (Alexander Nylander) that can help them win."

It's pretty clear that Matthews didn't lose much, if any, sleep over the loss to Buffalo last Monday. The early Eichel goal was one of the few misplays on the night for his line. 

“We were pretty happy with our game," Matthews noted. "Obviously, we made a mistake on that first goal and they capitalized on it, but we definitely could’ve had two, three, four ourselves. We had a lot of chances especially in that first period. We all emphasized it after the game, just hitting the net."

Babcock, who matched Kadri against Eichel after the early goal last Monday, plans on ramping up the minutes for Matthews as the season winds down. Matthews is averaging 18:13 TOI/G this season and has been above that mark in just two of six games since returning from a 10-game absence. 

“Auston’s just on his way back," the coach noted. "I thought he’s been better the last little while. Now, he’s just [got back from being] injured and now played four in six [nights] so that’s not conducive to being flying, but, in saying that, we tried to get his minutes a little higher, I think he got 18 and a half the other night, trying to do that a little bit to make sure he’s getting a workload and by the time the playoffs start he should be going."

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The one area where Eichel has a clear edge on Matthews is fashion. The second overall pick in the 2015 draft endorses his own clothing line – The Jack Eichel collection – through retailer Dave & Adam’s. 

But Matthews may be joining his good buddy in the fashion world soon enough. 

“Maybe down the road," he said. "I kind of talked about it during the summer a little bit, but probably the timing and everything was not right. But down the road it’d definitely be something to look into, yeah."

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Mittelstadt will get his first taste of the Sabres-Leafs rivalry tonight as he suits up in his third NHL game.

"The night I flew in they were playing and I got to watch most of the game and I think that spoke for itself," Mittelstadt said of the rivalry. "It's the border battle, there's a lot of emotion and it will be fun to be part of it."Mittelstadt, 19, is looking forward to the opportunity to face-off with 20-year-old Matthews, who is someone he admires.  

"He's one of my favourite players to watch," Mittelstadt said. "Just his skill, pretty much, is probably the main thing. He's got great hands and scores goals in a lot of different ways, which makes him more exciting to watch than other guys."

Any welcome-to-the-NHL moments so far for Mittelstadt, who has picked up an assist in each game played?

"I don't even know if it's stuff on the ice," the University of Minnesota product said. "It's just like being in the hotel and things like that, that stands out more, getting on the plane, it's more little things like that. When I'm playing I'm kind of playing and I feel comfortable out there. It's things away from the rink."

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Sabres coach Phil Housley was surprised that Predators forward Scott Hartnell wasn't suspended for his hit from behind on defenceman Viktor Antipin in Saturday's game. 

"I do know that our player was taken off on a stretcher, has a broken nose, facial lacerations and missing teeth so, in that respect, I strongly disagree with the NHL's decision," Housley said. "It's unfortunate for Viktor, because I thought he had a solid game and I don't believe he'll be playing the rest of the year. So, we feel for him and, like I said, I disagree with the decision."

Hartnell received a five-minute major and a game misconduct for the hit. 

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