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TSN Toronto Maple Leafs Reporter

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TORONTO – Morgan Rielly has more than 500 games of NHL experience under his belt, but the prospect of returning to the Maple Leafs’ lineup Tuesday after missing eight weeks with a broken foot still has the defenceman battling butterflies.

“Yeah, I'm a little nervous for sure,” Rielly admitted following Toronto’s optional morning skate ahead of facing Tampa Bay. “But it's also excitement. And it's also very serious. At this time of year, you want to win, you want to collect points and prepare yourself for playoffs. But most of all, I'm just looking forward to coming back.”

Rielly last played on Jan. 12 against Florida, when he suffered the first in a string of defensive injuries the Leafs have been battling ever since. Rielly returns on a pairing with Cody Ceci, himself just one game back from a month-long ankle injury absence. Shutdown defenceman Jake Muzzin remains out with a broken hand, underscoring how vital Rielly’s return will be for the battered blueline.

“He brings a lot in all three zones,” said head coach Sheldon Keefe. “His ability to skate the puck out of our own zone, get us through the neutral zone, and then the way he moves around the offensive zone with and without the puck offensively opens a lot of things up. It's important for us to make sure we give him time to reacclimate and get back into game shape. But he brings a lot to our group, particularly at this time of year, because of his energy and his passion and experience.”

It’s a popular phrase amongst the Leafs – “this time of year” – to subtly acknowledge where Toronto sits in the standings, and how precarious the team’s postseason hopes remain. After losing all three games on last week’s California road trip, the Leafs watched their hold on third place in the Atlantic Division dwindle to a one-point lead over the surging Florida Panthers, who just won two in a row to close the gap.

With just 13 regular-season games remaining, Toronto can’t afford more lengthy lapses like the one they had on the west coast swing. The Leafs were outscored 8-3 over the three games and didn’t lead any game for a single minute. On top of that, their power play was an abysmal 0-for-9.

“It's definitely frustrating. [We’re] a difficult team to get a read on,” said Zach Hyman. “There are nights where we play extremely well, and then there are nights where we don't live up to expectations and the efforts aren't there and the results aren't there. When you look at it from a macro perspective and where we are given everything that's happened, we're still in a great spot. So, there's a lot of potential in this team still, but we need to figure it out pretty soon.”

Two months on the sidelines gave Rielly a different vantage point of the Leafs’ various highs and lows. While he can swiftly identify where the team is faltering, he can’t explain why.

“I think that a big part of it is work ethic. I think that it's easy to tell up top [in the press box] when it's going our way, as opposed to when it's not,” Rielly said. “But why that is or what's causing that, I can't put my finger on it. I think it's important that we just deal with our work ethic. When we watch clips of us doing it well, we're urgent and playing in a higher gear and the games where we're not playing so well it just looks like we're a bit lackadaisical.”

If that’s the case, only the Leafs can fix what ails them, and the clock is running down on opportunity to do so.

In its next chance to turn the tide, Toronto with tackle a Tampa team it beat 4-3 on the road two weeks ago. This time around, the Lightning will be without top-pairing defenceman Victor Hedman (lower-body injury), a potential break for the Leafs to take advantage of.

The pair of power-play goals the Leafs scored in that win mark the last man-advantage success the team had before a five-game, 0-for-14 power play drought that has been part of the team’s larger struggle to find the back of the net.

At the very least, Toronto would like to see one of those issues resolve against the Lightning, while also continuing to build on what positives they can identify from the recent stretch.

“We weren't terrible defensively on that [California] trip,” said Tyson Barrie. “I think we actually did a decent job, and our goalies played really well. We just couldn't put it together on the offensive side. So, it's just having both pieces going at the same time that's the challenge for us, but we did a really good job down in Tampa last time, so that's a good benchmark on how we have to play.”

Even with Florida nipping at their heels, the Leafs deny doing much scoreboard watching, knowing as they do it won’t help achieve the team’s ultimate goal of more than just a postseason berth.  

“We just really have to worry about ourselves,” said Hyman. “It's not just about getting in the playoffs, it's about being a force in the playoffs. In order to do that, we have to really get back to being a consistent team and doing things that make you successful night in and night out. That's something that we're working on.”