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SPORTSCENTRE Reporter

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The Toronto Maple Leafs skated at Scotiabank Arena on Thursday. 


As the Leafs look to vanquish the ghosts of past playoff failures, Sheldon Keefe is trying to keep the focus on the present. 

"The guys are very businesslike and treating it like they have other games in the series," the coach said. "That's been the messaging for our group is to not look beyond your first shift or our first period here tonight. We are expecting it to be our best game in the series as we feel like that's going to be the effort that's going to be required." 

Toronto is on the brink of its first playoff series win since 2004. Only the Florida Panthers, who last advanced in 1996, have a longer active drought. 

The Leafs have come painfully close to winning a series over the past four years. In 2017, they squandered a 2-1 lead against the Washington Capitals. In 2018, they couldn't hold a third-period lead in Game 7 against the Boston Bruins. In 2019, they couldn’t close out the Bruins at home in Game 6 and fell again in Game 7. And then last year, in the bubble, Toronto lost another decisive game, this time against the Columbus Blue Jackets. 

"We understand what’s at stake, the opportunity we have in front of us and what it's going to take to get the job done," said defenceman Morgan Rielly, who has been part of all four of those previous playoff setbacks. "They're going to come with their best and we have to match that. We know the challenge is big, but I think we'll be ready for it."

Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, Zach Hyman and William Nylander are the other Leafs who will play tonight having also been a part of the four previous playoff defeats. 

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Keefe likes the closing ability his team has developed during a run to first place in the North Division, but acknowledges they haven't proven it in the playoffs. 

"This is an important step. No doubt," Keefe said. "As a coach, my job here tonight is to just keep our guys focused on doing the things that we've done to give us success in the series and continue to clean up the areas that we need to do better, because we can play better in a lot of areas still."

"It's been good at times," said defenceman Justin Holl when asked about the team's killer instinct. "I look at our three game series in Edmonton [in early March] where we wanted to put some separation between us and them. There's a couple things that you can point to where we did a good job and a couple things that we can point to where we didn't do a great job, so it’s always a work in progress."

The Leafs took their foot off the gas, for example, in the third period of Game 3, getting outshot 15-2 and barely holding on. But then, in Game 4, they built a lead and never really allowed Montreal to get into the game. 

"There's little things that we would like to do better, but we've been really under control in those situations," said Keefe, "managed the puck well, managed the game well, probably defending a little bit too much. We've gone from a team that maybe has the reputation to not defend enough and then now, to me, we defend a little bit too much here with our leads." 

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Only one week after being stretchered off the ice following a scary collision in Game 1 against Montreal, John Tavares was back skating again at Scotiabank Arena. The Leafs captain spent about 20 minutes on the ice Thursday morning doing some light shooting and passing. 

"He's obviously progressing very well," said Keefe. "He wasn't on there very long today, but felt very good coming off."

Tavares also sat in on the team's morning meeting.  

"Certainly, having him here in person is a nice lift for the guys," Keefe noted. 

"It's huge," said Rielly. "We don't know exactly what's going on or what his timeline is, but we're just happy to see him, happy to support him. Having him around the rink is a great sign."

Keefe wasn't sure if Tavares, who is recovering from a concussion and knee injury, would be able to be in the building for the game tonight. His mere presence this morning, however, had the team buzzing. 

"We're obviously very happy to see him and he's in good spirits," said Holl. "He looks healthy. He's got a couple things he's got to work through before he's ready to go and in game shape, but it’s really an encouraging sign to see him here. It's good for us emotionally and mentally."


Nick Foligno joined Tavares on the ice this morning as he works his way back from a lower-body injury. Foligno will miss a third straight game tonight.

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Holl is tied with Jake Muzzin for the team lead with eight blocked shots in the series. One of the blocks came on a Cole Caufield chance late in Game 3. 

"That was funny," Holl recalled. "I was telling Soup [Jack Campbell], for some reason I thought it was just a wide open net behind me so it was kind of desperation mode and you just go for it and then I saw the replay and Soup was just right there. So, it ended up working well, but I don't know how necessary it was."

The Leafs trail only the Winnipeg Jets and Minnesota Wild in blocks per 60 minutes in the playoffs. They finished 19th in that category in the regular season.

What was Holl thinking when he laid out to deny Caufield? 

"You're not really thinking about anything except, you know, it's my job to make sure this doesn't go to overtime and that we don't give them any life and that we close out the win and you're willing to do whatever it takes to make sure that that happens. So, really, that's all that's going through your mind at that point."

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Rasmus Sandin was reunited with Zach Bogosian on the third defence pairing at the morning skate and will return to the Leafs lineup after sitting out Game 4 as a healthy scratch. 

Sandin should bolster a power play that struggled down the stretch, but has shown some signs of life in the series going 3-for-16. Sandin scored one of two power-play goals during a Game 2 victory. 

"The puck's gone in the net for us a few times, so that's been good," said Keefe. "We've had more pucks arriving to the net. We've spent more time in the offensive zone and that's probably the biggest [thing]. With that time in the offensive zone, we've been striking to the net, but it's another area I think that we can do a lot better. I thought we were better on home ice than we were in Montreal in terms of our process." 

The Leafs converted on one of six chances during the last two games in Montreal. 

"Part of that is Montreal adjusted in their penalty kill," said Keefe. "But we still found a way to get a very important goal in Game 4 ... I think you can see some confidence coming there on our power play and that's a very good thing for us."

Adam Brooks, who made his Stanley Cup debut on Tuesday, continued to skate between Joe Thornton and Jason Spezza this morning and will remain in the lineup. 

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Lines at Leafs morning skate:

Hyman - Matthews - Marner 
Galchenyuk - Kerfoot - Nylander 
Mikheyev - Engvall - Simmonds 
Thornton - Brooks - Spezza 

Rielly - Brodie 
Muzzin - Holl
Sandin - Bogosian

Campbell starts 
Andersen