TSN Toronto Reporter Mark Masters reports on the Maple Leafs, who held a practice on Thursday at Bell MTS Place in Winnipeg ahead of Friday’s game against the Jets.
Frederik Andersen had a follow-up appointment regarding his lower-body injury on Thursday.
"The feedback I've been given is that he is progressing well and we'll continue to monitor him and re-assess him next week," said head coach Sheldon Keefe.
Andersen will not join the team on this road trip, which wraps up Monday in Calgary. Toronto's No. 1 goalie hasn't been on the ice since a game on March 19.
"The expectation is he will come back fully healthy and will not rush back," TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun reported on Insider Trading. "And that's what happened earlier in the season. I'm told Andersen rushed back and wasn't totally 100 per cent. Jack Campbell was out at the time so he wanted to do that to help his team, but that led to the setback that he's still dealing with."
Andersen missed four games with the injury in late February and early March. He then lost five of seven games after returning to the lineup and admitted he wasn't where he wanted to be physically.
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Campbell sustained a leg injury on Jan. 24, which he then aggravated upon returning to the lineup on Feb. 27. He missed another three weeks after that. Campbell returned to the starting lineup again on March 20, but the team is being cautious with his workload. He missed Sunday's practice and didn't dress in Monday's game.
"It's tough," Campbell said after a 26-save win on Wednesday. "As a competitor and a teammate I feel bad sometimes when I get days off and the other guys are grinding and it just puts more fire in my belly to perform when I get called upon."
Campbell had no reason to feel guilty on Thursday as he got the green light from the medical staff to take the ice with teammates. He did split reps with the third goalie on the ice, Ian Scott, but his presence was a positive sign.
Keefe was asked if it was a relief to see Campbell on the ice.
"Relief is not the right word," the coach said. "Yes, it's nice to have him out there, but I wouldn't necessarily call it a relief. We've been going along with a plan with him. I've never been too concerned about it in terms of how we were managing it."
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Toronto's top line is humming along nicely with Zach Hyman back on left wing alongside Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner. The trio, which controlled possession against the Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl line on Monday, continued to build momentum against the Jets, combining for a pair of goals in the first period on Wednesday.
"They had a lot of jump, they were around the puck and they attacked the net," Keefe observed. "Nothing too fancy about it, just work from all three of them."
Marner pointed out that the line didn't get much off the rush. This was a real blue-collar effort fuelled by a strong cycle game.
"All three of us were working around the puck well," the shifty winger noted, "and when we were on the wall, we were finding ways to get it off quickly and trying to find people going down the wall or holes."
Per NaturalStatTrick, in 10 minutes and 38 seconds of five-on-five time against Toronto's top line, Winnipeg mustered just one shot on net while the Leafs had eight.
"As incredible as they look offensively, it's amazing how strong they are and how hard they work defensively," raved Campbell. "All of them come back, take pucks away, stick check, take the body. They just make amazing plays. For them to play together, they just seem to have amazing chemistry."
Matthews scored for a third straight game and said his injured wrist is feeling much better. Marner has now picked up a point in nine of 10 games.
"They're tenacious," Hyman said of his linemates. "Auston isn't afraid to get into a shot lane and for a centre that's very important. He blocks a lot of shots when it gets by me or Mitch."
Matthews leads all Leafs forwards in blocked shots this season and Marner isn't far behind.
"Mitchy is one of the best penalty killers I've ever seen," Campbell said. "He's so smart out there."
"Mitchy's always tracking back hard," Hyman continued. "His stick is always active. He's always picking up pucks and creating havoc for the other team. They're both elite talents offensively and I think their defensive game is really good as well and it goes underrated because of how good they are offensively."
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Hyman has turned winning puck battles into an art form.
"He's just always got the perfect body position," Marner marvelled, "and if not he's always tying up sticks and trying to make the puck die in a spot to let whoever he's playing with come in and pitch it out."
The Jets seemed determined to make Hyman pay a physical price on Wednesday. Pierre-Luc Dubois actually missed Hyman and ran into teammate Derek Forbort on the sequence leading to Toronto's opening goal by Matthews.