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SPORTSCENTRE Reporter

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The Maple Leafs skated at Scotiabank Arena on Friday. 

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After missing Wednesday's game with a lower-body injury, all signs point to John Tavares returning tonight. The 31-year-old centre skated in his regular spot on a line with Alex Kerfoot and Mitch Marner this morning. 

"He felt good," coach Sheldon Keefe said. "We'll have Joey Anderson in warmup just in case, but he's preparing to play." 

Tavares has been hot of late, with six goals and four assists in his last six games. 

"He's been all over the puck," observed defenceman Morgan Rielly. "Obviously, the way he's been scoring, he's been shooting the puck well. He's clearly a big part of what we got going."

"He looks confident out there with the puck," agreed Kerfoot. "He's making plays when he has it. Obviously, he's dynamic around the net. He's good to play with, because he wins so many battles in the corners and you're able to play with the puck a lot more."

The defensive side of the game is what Keefe chose to highlight when asked about how the team's captain has performed this season. 

"Whether he's scoring at a high clip like he is right now or whether it wasn't going in for him earlier this season, defensively he's been great for us," Keefe said. "His complete game has been great."

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Jack Campbell gets the start again for the Leafs. It will be his 13th game of the season, tying Montreal's Jake Allen for the league lead.

"He's a guy that enjoys the hard work and enjoys challenges and faces them head on," said Rielly. 

Campbell faced 36 shots while shutting out the Flyers on Wednesday but felt like it was actually a quiet night. 

"The boys are battling for me," Campbell said after the win. "I didn't need to do too much."

With Petr Mrazek sidelined with a groin injury most of this season, the Leafs have leaned heavily on Campbell. But with another game looming on Saturday in Buffalo, it feels like the 29-year-old is due a rest. 

"We're going to focus on today," said Keefe. "We have a plan, of course, but we'll wait until we have all the information before we execute that. We're just going to focus on tonight's game."

Joseph Woll, a 23-year-old who has never played in the National Hockey League, has served as the backup goalie since Mrazek went on the injured reserve. Woll, the team's third-round pick in 2016, posted an .892 save percentage in 15 American Hockey League games last season. 

"He's put his time in in the organization," said Keefe. "Last season is a funny year for everybody, but he's a guy that we believe in."

Woll is 2-1-0 with an .895 save percentage in the AHL this season. 

Michael Hutchinson and Swedish Hockey League import Erik Kallgren are currently with the Marlies, who are preparing to play a couple games in Chicago this weekend. 

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William Nylander scored twice on Wednesday and is now tied for the team lead in goals (seven) and points (13). 

"He's got some fire in his belly," said Campbell. "He is moving out there and doing everything we could possibly ask."

Only Washington's Alex Ovechkin (60) has fired more shots on net this season than Nylander (56). He's averaging four shots per game, which is up from 2.6 last season. What's allowing Nylander to get more shots on target? 

"You know what? I don't know," he said with a smile. "I haven't really thought about that. I'll have to take a look at that."

Keefe believes the increase is tied to power-play usage. Last year, the Leafs started with two balanced units and Nylander was with the second unit. This year, they've gone to a loaded top unit while also prioritizing Nylander's shot as a weapon. 

Nylander is averaging 3:05 of power-play time a night so far, which is up from 2:26 last season. Nylander has 15 power-play shots this season (1.1 per game), which is tied with Tavares for the team lead. Nylander only had 28 power-play shots in 51 games (0.55 per game) last season. 

Kerfoot thinks the uptick in shots may simply be tied to Nylander's maturation as a player. The 25-year-old has said he wants to be more of a leader this season and part of that is not having too many lulls in play.  

"He's bringing it a little bit more on a consistent basis," Kerfoot posited, "and when he's going he's tough to handle. He's got a ton of speed. He's got a really good stick, wins pucks back for himself, and he's really strong on the puck so he's a pretty complete offensive player."

Nylander is also not deferring too much to linemate Auston Matthews, who is the reigning Rocket Richard Trophy winner. He has 35 shots in eight games (4.4 per game) since the lines were shuffled and he joined Matthews. 

"When he's going, he's going," Matthews noted. "When he's skating and moving his feet, he's dangerous all over the ice. He reads the play well. He sees the ice well and he's easy to play with. He's been shooting the puck a little bit more and it's obviously been going in. He's a huge part of this team so when he's going it makes it a lot easier on us."

Nylander's dedication to a two-way game may also be helping create transition chances. 

"He made a huge play in the second period coming back in our D zone," Campbell pointed out on Wednesday night. "They look for that high fourth guy coming into the zone, but he skated back hard and won the battle and then took off."

One thing everyone agrees on: Nylander has always had a lethal shot. 

"It's a heck of a release and still fools me a lot," said Campbell with a grin. "I don't want to say too much because it's working.

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One of Nylander's goals on Wednesday came on the power play. Toronto has now scored at least one power-play goal in each of its past six games. The Leafs had failed to score on the power play in each of the previous six games.

"It's in sync," said Keefe. "The guys seem to be reading off each other the way we want them to and using their skill and creativity and trusting the structure and the plan that's put in place. There's freedom inside of that and those guys are in sync there ... It's evolved. You have a bit of a plan when you come into the season, and it takes a little time to get that going and Auston's situation [missing the first three games] created some challenges for us."

Marner has five power-play assists in five games this month. He had five power-play assists over his previous 45 games combined, per the Elias Sports Bureau. Marner started this season in the bumper spot before being moved back to his usual position on the flank. Lately, the dynamic playmaker has ended up around the goal line, which was where he was on Monday when he fed Tavares for a power-play goal. 

"He sees the ice really well from that space and makes the penalty killers have to turn and face their net and not have a great sense of what's happening behind them," said Keefe. "Whether it's Mitch or Will as the righties down there or John as a lefty, it presents some good opportunities."

"We prioritized a lot of higher ice early in the season," Keefe continued, "but we've known we've needed to develop those lower options to really complete it and we've taken it a step at a time. That's been a big piece of how things have come together here. Being in sync, that's a big part of it, because you have to release at the appropriate times and in the right spots and then the timing of the passes have to be right so there's a lot of things that go into that. The guys are feeling it right now."

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After sitting out five games as a healthy scratch, Justin Holl returned to the lineup on Wednesday in Philadelphia. Per NaturalStatTrick.com, the Leafs were outshot 14-8 with Holl on the ice in five-on-five play. 

"Not quite where we want it to be, but it's going to take some time," Keefe said. "To think he was just going to come right back in and go right away back to the guy we've come to expect is probably not realistic. It's going to take some time to get there. There's the fact you haven't played for a little while, there's the confidence pieces, there's all those things that take a little time. He made some plays in the third period that really helped us on the breakout and that's the Justin Holl that I'm used to seeing. Defensively, I thought he was good. I didn't have any issues there. It was just some of the puck touches."

Keefe thinks the entire defensive group can improve when it comes to play with the puck and that was a point of emphasis this morning. 

The return of Holl allowed the Leafs to reunite the top four from last season on Wednesday. Holl played with Jake Muzzin and T.J. Brodie rejoined Rielly. 

"To have him back and be in a more familiar pairing set, I think that's when you're most comfortable," noted Rielly, "and you feel the best going out with a guy you know, and you communicate differently. It's just a comfort thing."

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Lines at Leafs morning skate: 

Bunting - Matthews - Nylander 
Kerfoot - Tavares - Marner 
Engvall - Kampf - Kase
Ritchie - Spezza - Simmonds 

Semyonov, Anderson

Rielly - Brodie 
Muzzin - Holl
Sandin - Liljegren 

Dermott 

Campbell starts 
Woll 

Power play units at Leafs morning skate: 

QB: Rielly 
Flanks: Marner, Matthews 
Middle: Nylander 
Net front: Tavares 

QB: Sandin 
Flanks: Engvall, Spezza 
Middle: Bunting 
Net front: Ritchie