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SPORTSCENTRE Reporter

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TSN Toronto Reporter Mark Masters reports on the Maple Leafs, who held an optional skate at Scotiabank Arena on Saturday ahead of Game 2 of Toronto's first-round playoff series against the Montreal Canadiens.

Rocket Richard Trophy winner Auston Matthews missed four games with a wrist injury and played through pain much of the year. Goalies Frederik Andersen (knee) and Jack Campbell (leg) both missed significant time. William Nylander sat out five games while on the COVID protocol list. Zach Hyman was sidelined late in the regular season with a knee injury. 

The Leafs have responded well to adversity all season. They just kept on pushing en route to first place in the North Division. 

"The team has remained calm and remains confident in themselves," observed coach Sheldon Keefe. "The mood of the group has stayed very good and very confident."

That wasn't always the case in recent years when Toronto failed to advance in the playoffs. A key player has exited early in every series in the Matthews era. In 2017, gritty defenceman Roman Polak sustained a gruesome injury against the Capitals. In 2018 and 2019 against the Bruins, centre Nazem Kadri was suspended. And defenceman Jake Muzzin was knocked out of last summer's series against Columbus. 

So, after losing captain John Tavares and Game 1 against the Canadiens this year, the Leafs have a chance to show this group is different. 

"One of the best parts of the playoffs, frankly, is the opportunity to respond," said Keefe. "The other team has an edge and the urgency rises a little bit more, you get a chance to really push back. I'm excited to have our team do that tonight."

"The important thing is John's OK," said defenceman Justin Holl, "and now the singular focus is moving on and trying to play long enough so he can come back and have an impact."

With Tavares out indefinitely with a concussion, personnel adjustments will be made, but the Leafs are also looking to improve their overall team play. In particular, the Leafs are looking to pick up the pace.  

"Our team can play with more speed," noted defenceman Morgan Rielly. "At times we got stalled a little bit and we weren't moving our feet, especially as D-men, and I think that impacts the forecheck."

If the Leafs defence isn't moving quickly, that throws the forwards out of sync and they can't hit the offensive blue line at a high speed.  

"Make sure we're moving the puck, moving our feet fast," said winger Mitch Marner of the necessary adjustments. "I didn't think we played as quick as we can last game. We got to make sure we're moving the puck quickly up the ice, getting support around it and then getting it off the wall and trying to get to the net."

The Leafs also want to get their cycle game going a bit more and grind down a Montreal team that thrives off the rush. Toronto didn't give up much on Thursday, but they never grabbed control of the game.

"We limited their scoring chances a lot and didn't allow them to get a lot of looks on net," said Holl, "but I thought they did the same to us in some ways. It was kind of a transition game more than anything so we're definitely looking to spend more time in the offensive zone tonight."

"We didn’t play well enough the other night," said Keefe, "and, because of that, the game was still up for grabs in that third period. We want to do a much better job today of dictating the terms of the game."

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A healthy scratch in Game 1, Alex Galchenyuk will slot in on the second line alongside Nick Foligno and Nylander tonight.

"He's a tremendously hard worker and really aggressive on the forecheck," said Holl. "He has been really good at hounding pucks and getting pucks back to go along with some elite skill that he has. He's been doing a really good job and we're looking for him to provide a spark tonight."

Galchenyuk produced 12 points in 26 games with the Leafs this season while playing primarily with Tavares and Nylander. 

"He didn't come out of the lineup because of anything that he had done or not done," Keefe stressed. "It’s more we liked the Game 1 lineup we had and the look of that, but John's absence changes the dynamic of our team and the look of our team. We knew that both Galchenyuk and [Pierre] Engvall were going to be factors for us and here they are tonight with a great opportunity."

Engvall will play on the third line with Alex Kerfoot and Ilya Mikheyev tonight. Keefe had a chat with the 6-foot-5 Swede yesterday.  

"He missed Game 1 of our series against Columbus as well and came in for Game 2 and I thought he made an unbelievable impact and was really good for the remainder of that series," said Keefe. "We're looking for a similar type of boost for our group here today with what he brings."

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Marner logged 27 minutes and 23 seconds in Game 1. 

"I'm not comfortable with him playing that much," Keefe admitted. "That's too much, but it's part of what happens when you're paying in such a tight game and you've got to kill five penalties and then you've got four power plays of your own and then you're down a goal late. We had the benefit in the final four minutes of regulation time there at the end of the game where we had two timeouts – one that I called and a TV timeout as well. Down a goal you're going to keep those guys out there and keep them going. I don't think it would have been as high if the game was a little bit different."

Marner averaged 22 minutes and 26 seconds of ice time per game this season to lead all NHL forwards. 

"He's such an important part of what we do," Keefe continued. "Obviously, it was too much the other night, but he and the team would have been questioning had he been sitting on the bench late in the game and not been out there with a chance to tie it."

The Leafs rested Marner in the final regular season game. 

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Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas announced that Tavares did not sustain any structural damage to his head, neck or spine. Tavares was struck in the head by the knee of Canadiens forward Corey Perry after a hit from defencemen Ben Chiarot had knocked him to the ice. 

"John was diagnosed with a concussion and also sustained a knee injury on the play," Dubas revealed. "It's a similar injury to the one sustained by Zach Hyman (MCL sprain) in Vancouver in the regular season. It will be a minimum of two weeks with that, but obviously, our primary concern is the concussion and making sure that he returns to full health."

There is no timeline for a return from the concussion. 

"We handle those in a very conservative nature and handle them very sensitively," Dubas said. "We will follow the protocols to a tee with that. We can't replace that element with John and can't repair it, so we have to be very careful and keep in mind he's got a young family and there's an onus on us to protect him and his future in that regard. We'll follow the protocols and the NHL concussion protocol and consult closely with John and the experts in the field and then proceed from there."

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Dubas is upset with how the Toronto Sun covered the injury on Friday. The newspaper's front page featured a picture of a bloodied Tavares on the ice with the headline, 'Captain crunched.'

"As an organization, we felt the cover of their newspaper crossed the line and we found the cover to be disgusting," Dubas said. "Just a complete lack of compassion and respect on behalf of the Sun towards John and his family, especially for such an upstanding member of our organization and community and his family that had to endure that."

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After missing Friday's practice for maintenance, Campbell was on the ice this morning and Keefe confirmed he's good to go tonight. 

Projected Game 2 lineup based on Friday's practice: 

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

Rielly - Brodie 
Muzzin - Holl 
Sandin - Bogosian 

Campbell starts 
Andersen