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SPORTSCENTRE Reporter

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TSN Toronto reporter Mark Masters checks in daily with news and notes from Maple Leafs practices and game-day skates. The Maple Leafs practiced on Sunday at the MasterCard Centre. 

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Patrick Marleau wanted his son Brody to have an "extra special" birthday so the veteran winger invited him to Maple Leafs practice on Sunday. Brody got his own stall and nameplate in the dressing room and skated with the players before and after the session. And he wasn’t shy either. Brody Marleau didn’t hesitate to offer a playful slash at the pads of Jake Gardiner and Mitch Marner among others. 

Afterwards, his dad joked that the media wanted to talk to him and, sure enough, the nine-year-old confidently stepped before the cameras earning big laughs. 

What was his favourite part of practice? 

“Ahhh, Mitch and my dad and (Auston) Matthews. My favourite guys,” he said with a big smile. 

Marner and Matthews have become close with the Marleau family this season with the running joke being that Patrick has four kids at home and two at the rink.

“A lot of energy,” said Marner when asked for a scouting report on Brody. “He’s funny. I mean, he’s the one trying to steal my girlfriend so I like to give it to him about that quite a bit.”

“Brody says he’s not, but I think he has a little crush on her,” Patrick said. 

Brody’s cheeks turned red when asked to confirm the story. 

“Um, yeah,” he revealed to laughs. 

Matthews and Marner have been guests at the Marleau home a couple times taking part in spirited games of mini-sticks in the basement. Marner describes the playing surface as "a war zone," adding, "they’re very, very competitive."

“All his kids are really feisty especially his two younger ones,” Matthews said referring to three-year-old Caleb and six-year-old Jagger. “They’re fun to play mini-sticks with, because they always try to fight each other and Mitch and I just watch from afar. It gets intense in there, four boys living in a house so it makes for a lot of battles and stuff.”

Landon, Marleau's eldest son at age 11, also made a cameo at Leafs practice back in October. 

Marleau is soft-spoken at the rink. So, what’s he like at home as a dad? Matthews can’t help but laugh when asked if Marleau is a disciplinarian. 

“He’s soft,” Matthews said still smiling. “Real soft. Yeah, the mom actually runs the show.”

“It depends if Christina’s around,” Marner said referring to Patrick’s wife. “Christina’s the one, I’d say, that runs the household.”

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While Marleau may take a backseat at home sometimes, on the ice he’s still pushing the pace. On Sunday, his teammates were still buzzing about his backhand saucer pass to Nazem Kadri that helped seal the win against the Red Wings. 

“It was unbelievable,” said Matthews. “It’s a pretty special play he made. It’s a veteran move, I guess, because he had to hang onto the puck almost behind the goal-line and then feather it over to Naz.”

“That’s very difficult,” said Marner. “First of all, the patience to wait out the guy. And, second of all, a perfectly placed pass, especially getting it that close to Naz. It’s a hard pass to make, for sure.”

And while that was the highlight of the night for the Kadri line, the rest of the game didn’t go very well. Kadri's CorsiFor was only 24% making it his second worst game in that category this season. And despite creating the game-winning goal, head coach Mike Babcock refused to give that group a pass. 

“It wasn't their night,” Babcock said in his post-game news conference. “That line, we need way more out of that group, we need them to get going, they know that though.”

“It was a rough night,” agreed Marleau. “We didn’t get a lot of O-zone time, but a few chances here and there and we were able to find it in the end.”

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Part of the issue may have been the fact the Leafs had just returned home after a successful road trip through Tampa Bay and Nashville and had trouble recalibrating. ​

“When you play the top two teams in the league back-to-back, their record gets you prepared,” Babcock noted. “You don't have to prepare yourself, they get you prepared. But, when it's the other way around, you've got to get yourself prepared. Obviously, we weren't quite as good at that.”

With the basement-dwelling Sabres paying their first visit to Toronto this season on Monday, Babcock is once again warning his team to be locked in.

“They played us well the last two times. They beat us once (5-3 on March 5) and then played us well the last time so we understand what the game’s going to be about,” the coach said. “We didn’t think we played fast enough last night, had enough guys all in for the whole time and so we got to do a better job tomorrow. We didn’t address any of those things today. We actually didn’t address anything. We just practised and we’ll do that all tomorrow so they could have a reset day here today.”

The ability to find different ways to win at home has defined the last two months for the Leafs as Toronto has racked up 13 straight wins at the Air Canada Centre. They haven't lost at home since Jan. 22 against the Avalanche. 

"It's important for teams to know the night before, when they're out for dinner in your town, that they're not getting any points tomorrow or that it's a real hard place to get it,” Babcock said. “When your players know that to, they have a swagger. When you're home and you don't win, it's hard for you. The crowd is tense. When you win, they're the wind in your sails. They help you out as well. So, It's important to get that feeling at home. It gives you impetus.”

The Leafs have now won 26 games at home this season matching the franchise record set in 2005-06. And Toronto still has five home games left on the schedule. 

"We feel really good at home, especially toward this tail end of the year,” said Matthews. “The crowd is into it. We're playing these big games and it feels like the playoff games every night. It's intense and I think everybody relishes it."

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The return of Matthews to the lineup has certainly boosted Toronto’s swagger, especially among his linemates. 

William Nylander has scored twice in the two games since Matthews returned. They were his first two even-strength goals since Feb. 12. He also piled up five shots in each game. Nylander hadn’t been over three shots in a game since Feb. 5. 

“Feels like we haven’t missed a beat so just want to keep building off of that,” Nylander said on Saturday night. 

“Auston’s an elite player and he brings a unique element to our line that not a lot of other lines have, obviously,” added Zach Hyman after Sunday’s practice. “It’s definitely energized our line for sure.”

As solid as Matthews has been since returning from a 10-game absence, Babcock believes there’s plenty of room to grow.

“He’s going to get better, obviously, the more he plays,” the coach noted. “But I didn’t think he had a falloff from game one to game two … He’ll start picking it up.”

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Hyman certainly seemed to have a lot of energy on Saturday night when he dropped the gloves with Darren Helm for his first career NHL regular season fight. 

“Just hockey,” he explained. “We bumped each other a couple times and then one thing led to another and we were scrapping a little bit, but it was more of a wrestling match.”

His parents were in the stands watching and, at first, his mom looked mortified, but then she started shouting, “Get him, Zach! Get him!”

“Just a protective mom,” Hyman said with a chuckle. “I think my dad gave her a little shove like, ‘Quiet down a little bit.’ But, that’s just my mom. She’s a mom of five boys so she’s pretty protective of us.”

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Lines at Sunday’s practice: 

Hyman-Matthews-Nylander
Marleau-Kadri-Marner 
van Riemsdyk-Bozak-Brown 
Johnsson-Plekanec-Kapanen
Martin, Leivo 

Rielly-Hainsey
Gardiner-Zaitsev 
Dermott-Polak 
Moore-Carrick 

Andersen 
McElhinney