TSN SportsCentre Reporter Mark Masters reports on the Maple Leafs, who practised at UBS Arena in Elmont, N.Y., on Wednesday before flying to Florida ahead of Thursday’s game against the Panthers.
General manager Kyle Dubas added six new players and subtracted two regular contributors in the lead up to the trade deadline. Defenceman Jake McCabe and forward Sam Lafferty debuted with the Leafs on March 1. Defenceman Erik Gustafsson and defenceman Luke Schenn entered the lineup one night later. Head coach Sheldon Keefe has been trying out different combinations on a near-nightly basis ever since.
Are all the changes leading to uneven results?
"It could factor a little bit, but I don't necessarily think it's a great excuse for the way we've been playing," said centre Auston Matthews. "I think it's just been a little bit too much highs and lows. We need to find a little bit more consistency in our game and throughout the game as well."
The Leafs fell 7-2 to the New York Islanders on Tuesday night. It was the team's most lopsided loss of the season.
"It's a little bit easy maybe to point to that," Keefe said of the lineup shuffling. "Individually, players need to stay with their game. I don't think any of the changes that we've made are anything too foreign or uncommon. It's been really common linemates and certainly common pairs all the way through."
The Leafs are 5-4-1 in March. That .550 points percentage puts Toronto 18th overall this month.
"We've added some great pieces and they've fit in really well," said captain John Tavares. "So, I don't think that necessarily has anything to do with our play. It's on us to adapt and go out and execute. You know you're playing with good players. Yeah, it's on us to be better and it's a great opportunity to have those different looks, different combinations and whatnot and building our game out and developing chemistry with everybody."
The Leafs are 26th in expected goals this month, per NaturalStatTrick.com. They are 28th in expected goals against.
"We've beaten New Jersey," Keefe countered. "We've beaten Carolina. We've beaten Edmonton. We've taken Colorado to a shootout. So, I mean, all the best teams in the league we've fared pretty well against in the last two weeks so to overthink anything too much I don't think would be appropriate."
Keefe notes that the absence of centre Ryan O'Reilly, who broke his finger just eight games into his Leafs career, has led to different looks up front. It's also led the team to employ an 11-forward, seven-defenceman alignment more often in an attempt to keep all the new blueliners involved.
"It's hit or miss some nights," reliable rearguard T.J. Brodie said of his recent play. "Obviously with seven in the mix, it's an adjustment for everyone. You're never with the same guy so it's more of a mental thing and being more alert and more aware out there."
The Leafs have gone back to the traditional 12-and-six approach in the last two games.
"It's the reality we're dealing with," Keefe concluded. "We've rallied at different times to compete against the best teams in the league and find ways to win games so to point to anything [related to roster changes] when it doesn't go well would be letting us off the hook too easily."
Toronto has 12 games left before the playoffs.
"Eventually we'll find our way," Matthews assured. "We have to."
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The Leafs allowed a season-high seven goals on Tuesday night. Keefe, though, saw some silver linings.
"Our first period, with the exception of the last three minutes, was excellent," the coach said. "As good as we looked in a long while and probably deserved to be up more than one and we weren't. We let them hang around and then you make mistakes and it compounds. We just got to keep building on the good things we've done because we have done a lot."
Keefe highlighted the fact the Islanders play a more passive, pack-the-middle style than Toronto's other recent opponents and they failed to make the appropriate adjustment.
The sense of urgency was also different between the two teams on Tuesday. The Leafs have felt locked into the 2-3 match-up in the Atlantic Division for some time. The Islanders, meanwhile, have only a tenuous hold on a wild-card spot.
"It was very evident the game was very important to them," Keefe observed.
Morgan Rielly said that's no excuse.
"We're playing for a lot too," the defenceman insisted. "We're trying to get dialed in. By no means are we losing focus. We're trying to play playoff hockey. I think we have been, when you look back at the previous games so, no, I don't think that was a factor."
It better not be, because the Leafs will face another desperate opponent on Thursday in Florida. The Panthers trail the Pittsburgh Penguins by one point in the race for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
"It's good for our group," said forward Noel Acciari, who was acquired alongside O'Reilly on Feb. 18. "It's like playoff games all these games. These teams we're playing are all fighting for a spot and that's just helping us get ready for that first round."
The Leafs will face Carolina on Saturday. The Hurricanes are just two points up on New Jersey for first place in the Metropolitan Division. Toronto wraps up the road trip on Sunday in Nashville where the Predators are clinging to hope in the Western Conference race.
"We have to, most importantly, make sure we're worried about the way we have to prepare and the level we have to be at to go out there and execute and play," said Tavares. "There's a lot of teams in a lot of different situations so, most importantly, you take care of yourself and holding our standard to a certain level."
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Keefe called over Matthews and Mitch Marner for a chat at the end of Wednesday's practice. What did they talk about?
"That's none of your business, honestly," a grinning Matthews told your humble correspondent. "I'll keep it between us."
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Islanders centre Brock Nelson left Tuesday's game after taking a hit from Acciari.
"I'm usually hard on the forecheck," Acciari said when asked about the play. "I'm not looking to hurt anyone ever. I went to push him into the boards and he just happened to cutback. I hope he's OK."