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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 practised at the MasterCard Centre in Toronto on Friday.


* ​It was after Auston Matthews scored a record four goals in his NHL debut that he got an unexpected request from Craig Anderson. The Senators netminder, who allowed all four goals, was wondering if the 2016 first overall pick would sign his goalie stick from that historic game. Matthews was happy to oblige, even adding a message, "Thanks 'FOUR' making my first game memorable." Although, apparently the witty inscription wasn't Matthews' idea. 

“Actually, Bobby (Hastings), one of our equipment managers, came up with the whole, ‘Thanks FOUR making my first game a memorable one,’" Matthews revealed. "I guess he wanted something funny, so Bobby came up with a pretty good one and he ran it by me and I thought it was hilarious. I’m glad he liked it."

Anderson, who rarely asks other players for memorabilia, keeps the stick at his home in Florida. 

"It's probably going to be a National Hockey League record for as long as I'm alive," Anderson told TSN's Brent Wallace. "Just kind of a cool memento and something I can look at and giggle at with my kids. It will be a good story for the grandkids one day."

Matthews said he gets a "decent amount" of requests for his sticks, but that's OK, because ... he has started his own stick collection. His favourites, so far? 

“I got a Joe Thornton," the 20-year-old said with a smile. "I guess those are kind of hard to come by and he’s got a pretty interesting stick so I like that. I got an (Alexander) Ovechkin as well and that one’s got a pretty big curve and it’s pretty cool to see what other guys are using.”

What makes Thornton’s interesting? 

“Well, he uses the two-piece, but the blade’s huge and the stick’s just heavy in general. It obviously works pretty well for him throughout his career, but I don’t think I’d ever see myself using it, but it’s pretty fun to look at.”

Other players were more than happy to share their own stick-collecting stories. 

"It kind of takes you back when you do get asked," said Patrick Marleau of the stick trade. "It’s kind of nice, guys wanting your stick.” 

Marleau, who played his 1,500th NHL game on Wednesday, has picked up a few over the years. 

“The highlight one for me would probably be (Sidney) Crosby gave one to my eldest son from the 2010 Olympics and he was his favourite player and he took the time to sit and talk with him so that was pretty special.”

"I have a ton of them," said Leafs head coach Mike Babcock. "I’ve been fortunate to coach some Olympic teams so I railroad the guys into that. I got, it’s not the actual stick, but Scott Niedermayer made the play and (Jarome) Iginla made the play and Crosby scored the goal and (Roberto) Luongo was in net at the 2010 Olympics so I have all that kind of stuff." The coach paused and smiled. "I shouldn’t say that, because someone will break into my house."

Nazem Kadri said his linemate and good friend Leo Komarov has a pretty big roster of sticks. 

"When I went over to Finland to see him a few years ago he had quite the collection," Kadri said. "He almost had a room full of sticks so he had some interesting players in there."

Is Kadri a collector? 

"No, not really. I just enjoy their company on the ice. That’s all I need," he said with a smile. 

Is that a byproduct of how he plays? Maybe it's hard to ask guys for a stick when you're a pesky player? 

“Ahh, yeah," Kadri said with a grin. "I don’t know if anyone would want to give me a stick even if I asked.”

Leafs downplay being BoDog Cup favourites 

Toronto has won six of seven to open the season and oddsmaker BoDog now lists the team as the Stanley Cup favourite. 

"Someone should’ve bet on us at the beginning of the year," Kadri said with a grin. "I don’t think we were No. 1, were we?" Kadri was quick to add, "That stuff’s a distraction for all we know." 

BoDog had Toronto's Cup odds at the start of the season at 14-1 and that number has since improved to 8-1. 

Babcock, predictably, was not interested in discussing the development. 

“All that stuff is fluff," he said. "You know, I’ve coached lots of good teams that were No. 1 in the ranking, that won the Presidents’ Trophy, that tied for the Presidents’ Trophy and didn’t win the Cup. It’s hard to win. It’s darn near impossible so let’s not worry about that. Let's try to get in the playoffs and let's do that by winning the game (Saturday night) in Ottawa. And Ottawa's given us a tough time. They've been real stingy against us. We haven't played as good (against them)."

Babcock's message right now? 

“Be diligent, be solution-based, get better every day and then we got a chance to be successful. I know you (media) don’t want to hear any of that. You want something way more flamboyant and all that. (Shakes head) I don’t got it.”

Growing hype after Marchand tweet

The biggest buzz is surrounding Matthews. Earlier this week, Capitals coach Barry Trotz compared him to a young Mario Lemieux. Then on Friday morning, Bruins winger Brad Marchand chimed in on Twitter saying, "At what point do the @MapleLeafs have to start playing Matthews 1 vs 5 to make it fair for other teams??"

What does Matthews make of all this praise? 

"I don’t really listen to it," he said. "I didn’t hear the Barry thing or Marchand’s tweet so, I don’t know, I guess it’s nice to get recognized like that. I don’t really think too much about it. I just play hockey and have fun.”

Matthews has scored six goals and added four assists in the first seven games. Many of the goals have been of the highlight-reel variety. But Matthews comes by his modesty honestly, according to teammates. 

“You wouldn’t be able to tell if he had zero goals or six," said Marleau. "He goes about his daily routine the same way.”

Kadri was once caught up in the Toronto hype machine as a young prospect so he can appreciate the way Matthews is navigating everything. 

“When you have that kind of hype, especially coming into the league, you got to understand how to handle it and he’s done a great job doing that and he’s certainly impressed me not just on the ice, but off the ice," Kadri said. “Inside this dressing room, you know, we don’t try and fill his head up with too many of those things (compliments), but he understands the greatness he has and the special talent and that guys like him don’t come around very often.”

When asked about his top line, Babcock started talking about Kadri, Marleau and Komarov. 

"Well, I think Marleau's heavy on the forecheck, I think Leo's in there, too; they compete with and without the puck," Babcock said before pausing. "That's not what you wanted?"

That created some laughter early in Friday's media session. Babcock is doing his best to keep the hype from getting out of hand. And, so far, the coach likes the way Matthews has handled everything. 

“I think all those things are great, but I don’t think it's affecting his life," Babcock noted. "That’s just noise. The more you win the more the noise is positive, the more you lose the more the noise is negative, but you probably shouldn’t listen when it's negative and you probably shouldn’t listen when it's positive.”

“We got a young group, so everybody’s pretty energetic," Matthews said of the current mood. "But we’re seven games in, we’re not getting too excited about it yet ... A lot of teams can start off well and end up dying off halfway through the year, toward the end of the year so we want to just make sure we’re on a steady upslope.”​

* Lines at Friday's Leafs practice

Forwards
Hyman-Matthews-Nylander 
Marleau-Kadri-Komarov 
van Riemsdyk-Bozak-Brown
Martin-Moore/Fehr-Marner
Leivo 

Defencemen
Rielly-Hainsey 
Gardiner-Zaitsev 
Borgman-Carrick 
Rosen-Polak 

Goaltenders
Andersen 
McElhinney