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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 and Red Wings held morning skates at the Air Canada Centre on Saturday.

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James van Riemsdyk has an impressive 14 goals in his​ last 19 games. And, lately, he's been even hotter with eight goals in five games. 

Auston Matthews sits beside JvR in the dressing room at the Air Canada Centre and was asked what the mood's like around the big left winger. 

“It’s pretty light if you ask me," Matthews said with a grin. "He’s a fun guy in the locker room and when you’re on fire like that you're going to take some heat from the guys and he handles it pretty well.”

"You never mind hearing comments like that so it’s all funny," said van Riemsdyk when asked about the good-natured ribbing he's taken from teammates. 

The New Jersey native will turn 29 in a couple months and is playing some of the best hockey of his life right now. 

"I just think his five-on-five play is way better," observed head coach Mike Babcock. "His power play (game) is always elite, his five-on-five and skating is better, he's jumping and he's on pucks. Is that because he's scoring and feeling better and going or is that because the trade deadline is over and you don't have to worry about all that crap and you can just get on with playing hockey? I don't know the answer to those questions, I just know he's good."

For his part, van Riemsdyk disputes the trade deadline theory. 

“To be honest, it didn’t really effect me at all," he insists. "I knew it was out of my control and I don’t really buy into that stuff.”

The numbers appear to back up van Riemsdyk as his scoring surge started well before the Feb. 26 deadline. 

JvR chalks up the hot streak to getting more bounces lately. His goal Thursday, for example, was deflected in by Predators defenceman Roman Josi. Of course, it's not all luck. ​

"We're building that confidence and stuff like that too," he said of his line. "But we've been doing a lot of good things for a while now and are getting rewarded a little bit more on the scoresheet."

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JvR's rise has been aided by a scintillating power play, which has converted on 11 of 18 chances over the last seven games. Overall, the team is clicking at 55 per cent on the man advantage in the month of March. 

"I thought it was higher than that, to be honest," Morgan Rielly joked with reporters this morning. 

It certainly feels that way. 

The top unit features Rielly at the point, van Riemsdyk at the net, Nazem Kadri in the middle with Mitch Marner and Tyler Bozak on the flanks. Most of the plays run through Marner. 

"He’s definitely the one carrying the load when it comes to making those plays and the rest of us try to get the puck to him," Rielly told reporters. "Him and JvR have certainly tapped into something and they got a few plays that they like to do."

"Mitch has got real good vision," Babcock noted, "and it's hard to know what he's going to do next. I think that makes him a real key for everyone else and gives everyone else opportunities. Obviously, Morgan is an elite skater and passes the puck real well. He's got the real good sifter from the top and gets it away in a hurry. So, that gives us lots of options out there."

The finisher on the unit is van Riemsdyk who leads the way with 11 power-play goals. How big of a weapon is he? JvR's net-front presence is actually forcing the Wings to reevaluate their strategy. 

“JvR makes their power play extraordinarily dangerous," Wings coach Jeff Blashill explained. "Lots of penalty kills want to leave the net-front guy to the goalie, well, he’s a tough guy to leave alone to the goalie because of how dangerous he is in those areas.”

"He's gifted down low, for sure," said Wings starter Jimmy Howard. "He can deflect pucks and he's a big body so it's tough to see around him. And he's also a gifted passer so you have to be aware of him, where his stick is and whether or not he's popping up from under the line or not."

Blashill respects van Riemsdyk's skill-set so much that the Wings have used him as a template for 23-year-old Anthony Mantha, a fellow big-bodied winger. 

"Over the years, you look at JvR's production and it's been excellent and it's been noted lately (that he's done it) without lots of minutes and that's what net front does," Blashill said. "If you can get great at the net front you can score lots of, I don't want to say easy goals, but that's where the goals come from so I think that's a guy, certainly, Mantha can learn from."

"He's got elite, elite hands," said Babcock of JvR, "and he's got an elite brain to get open. He's calm under pressure, he's got size and reach so he can find loose pucks and, I mean, he obviously understands that's where he scores. If you score all the goals at the net, why wouldn't you get to the net? He gets there and people get him the puck there. All you've got to do is look at the National Hockey League goals every night and where do they score them? Better go there."

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JvR's incredible hand-eye co-ordination is something that comes to mind immediately when you think about the pending unrestricted free agent. The other thing, for many teammates, is his quirky routine before and after games that he believes keeps his body in top shape. JvR has a longer-than-usual stretching regiment, for example. Last year, teammates chuckled about all the vitamins he was popping constantly. He's always carrying a backpack, which contains all sorts of different items meant to help him stay at the top of his game. 

“He’s pretty crazy," Marner said. "He takes a lot of time to do stuff before games. Just how long he’s stretching, getting warmed up for, that’s what I’ve noticed, how long he takes."

“He’s always doing something," Matthews noted. "Warming up, taking vitamins and doing stuff with his skates and his sticks and, I don’t know, it works for him though. He scores 30 goals every year so something must be working."

What stands out the most? 

“Everything," Matthews said with a smile. "He’s got it all down to a science. Yeah, he’s got so much stuff going I can’t even keep track of it sometimes.”

“James wants to get better every day," said Babcock, "and he’ll do a lot of things to get better. Now, he tries a lot of stuff so which part works and which part doesn’t? But, if you believe it works, doesn’t it work?” 

Now, van Riemsdyk has always been hesitant to reveal too many details about all the little things he does. After all, if he's got a good routine, why would he share it with the media and thus potential opposition players? But it's clear he thinks it makes a big impact. 

“It adds up," van Riemsdyk said. "If you can feel a little better every day and you have a little more energy as the year goes on and it’s game, what, 75 tonight, and I feel pretty good so, knock on wood."

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Matthews didn't seem to miss a beat in returning from a four-week absence on Thursday. The game in Nashville marked the first time Babcock had his top four centres available as Matthews sustained the shoulder injury right before Tomas Plekanec was acquired in a trade with the Canadiens. 

With Matthews back, promising rookie left winger Andreas Johnsson was demoted to the fourth line and William Nylander was able to shift back from centre to right wing. He responded by scoring an even-strength goal for the first time since he had two against the Lightning on Feb. 12. Both those Nylander goals against Tampa were assisted by Matthews. 

The depth down the middle on Thursday also allowed Babcock to share the minutes pretty evenly and Matthews actually played a season-low 15:18 against the Predators. 

"You don't have to hide anybody and you can play less minutes for everybody and play harder and faster," the coach said. "We're trying to play as fast as we possibly can, we still think there's another level we can get to and that's what I preach every day. In order to do that, you've got to have short shifts and you've got to have lots of people."

"They're a tough match-up when they got their full lineup," Blashill said. "You throw that fourth line in and now Babs has confidence to play them against anybody based on what we saw against Nashville. It's going to be a four-line game and I can't over-worry about match-ups, because every line is it's own unique challenge. We'll try on the D side to get the guys out there that we think are the right match, but on the forward side I'm not going to fight it."

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With Nikita Zaitsev back from an illness, Connor Carrick has become the odd man out on the blue line. It's clear Babcock is a fan of what the hard-nosed Roman Polak can bring to the table, especially at this time of year. 

"It was the other night on the bench when he ran over one of their best players, [assistant coach] D.J. Smith said to me, 'What's the Corsi rating for that?'"

Polak's CorsiFor% this season, per NaturalStatTrick.com, is 47.55 while Carrick is at 51.88. 

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Lines at Leafs morning skate: 

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

Rielly-Hainsey 
Gardiner-Zaitsev 
Dermott-Polak 

Andersen starts 
McElhinney 

Healthy scratches: Moore, Martin, Leivo, Carrick 
Injury: Komarov (lower body)