The Toronto Maple Leafs host the Florida Panthers at Scotiabank Arena Tuesday night.
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Brad Marchand stole the show when he met with the Toronto media Tuesday morning, admitting he considered joining the Maple Leafs as a free agent.
“It was between Florida and Toronto where I was going to go,” Marchand told reporters.
“I never thought it was going to be possible to re-sign with Florida, I really didn’t. Just with the guys we had up and stuff like that. But once the opportunity came up to sign here, it was kind of no question that’s where I wanted to be. But just with where we were [with the salary cap], I didn’t think it was going to be able to happen.
Marchand added, “As a group the way they [Maple Leafs] are competing now, they compete the right way. It’s unfortunate the fans ran [Mitch] Marner out of town. That’s a huge impact for their group. He’s a point-a-game player. That hurts.”
Marchand was also asked about Auston Matthews passing Mats Sundin to become the Maple Leafs all-time goal-scoring leader.
“He can score in a lot of different ways,” Marchand said. “It’s really impressive what he’s done at a very young age and with how old the franchise is. It’s impressive that he’s already broken that record and he’s still got 10-15 years left in the league – whether it’s here or not we’ll see.”
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Brandon Carlo returns to the Maple Leafs lineup after missing the last 23 games with a foot injury. The Leafs blueliner had foot surgery Dec. 3 and plays his first game since Nov. 15.
“He’s a stability guy,” Leafs head coach Craig Berube said. “It’s his first game back in a long time, so we have to manage his game and his minutes. He’s a guy who eats minutes, gets in the way, blocks shots. All that type of stuff. He’s a good defensive defenceman, penalty killer, all of that.”
The Leafs are missing veteran blueliners Chris Tanev and Jake McCabe with injuries. Morgan Rielly is coming off a tough effort against the Islanders, where he finished with a minus-4.
“He’s had a tough run, but we have all the confidence in him,” Berube said of Rielly. “Just keep it simple. Play your game. Don’t force things, don’t try to chase it, make the plays that are there in front of you.”
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Just two points separate the Leafs and Panthers in the standings. Toronto beat Florida in the only matchup of the season to this point, a 4-1 victory on Dec. 2 in Florida.
“This feels like a playoff series, the regular season now. Not the physicality, but the mentality of it,” Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said. “You lose a game, you feel it. You win a game, you’re a little closer. Being able to keep a certain amount of even keel in that is really important.
“The Toronto game is the last game I didn’t like at home. After that we’ve been a really good team [10-4-1 record].”
Berube called it a “huge game.”
“We can actually tie them in points tonight,” said Berube. “We know Florida very well. They play a certain way and really don’t deviate from that. They will come at you in all areas of the ice and there’s not going to be a lot of room. You have to be comfortable with that and patient in our game. It comes down to compete and work tonight.”
“There’s a bunch of really good teams [in the Atlantic Division],” said Maurice. “What that means is it’s going to be really hard to get into the playoffs.
“We’ve got 41 games to get better and everybody’s just got to keep trying to get better.”
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The game will be missing a couple of the stars as William Nylander and Matthew Tkachuk are out with injuries.
Nylander has missed the past five games with a lower-body injury and skated this morning with injured goalie Anthony Solarz. Nylander could return as soon as Thursday in Philadelphia.
Tkachuk has yet to play this season following surgery in August to repair a torn adductor muscle and sports hernia. He returned to the ice on Dec. 28.
Tkachuk took part in the morning skate and for the first time since he returned to the ice was not wearing a red non-contact jersey.
“We’re not in fully heavy contact with him. The next box that has to get checked is he has to get leaned on, push himself, recover for a day,” said Maurice. “We’re hopeful at some point.”
Could Tkachuk could return as soon on the six-game road trip that starts in Toronto tonight?
“It’s possible, once you get to full contact,” noted Maurice. “We have to go a few more days here where he pushed real hard. We’re hopeful it may be this trip, but it all depends on how he feels.”
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Maple Leafs defenceman Oliver Ekman-Larsson was named to the Swedish Olympic team and discussed what that meant to him with the media Tuesday morning.
“It’s a big honour, and I’m super excited about it,” said Ekman-Larsson, who in 2021 had his contract bought out by the Vancouver Canucks. “Throughout your career you go through tough times and it’s like life – you go through tough times in life too. But I think that’s kind of the moments that define you. That’s why you keep fighting and trying to get better.”
Ekman-Larsson remembers watching Sweden win the Olympic gold in 2006 watching with his grandparents “on the floor crying.” He also was a member of the 2014 team that won silver in Sochi.
“I’d be lying when I’m saying I haven’t thought about it,” said Ekman-Larsson. “I’m very proud of myself for being named.”
The 34-year old has known since the end of the club’s three-game road trip just before Christmas that he made the team.
“It was hard knowing and now being able to talk about it,” Ekman-Larsson said. “I was obviously super happy and called my family and told them.”
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Maple Leafs held an optional skate this morning.
These are the lines the Leafs had at practice on Monday.
McMann-Matthews-Domi
Maccelli-Tavares-Knies
Cowan-Roy-Robertson
Lorentz-Laughton-Jarnkrok
Extra: Quillan
Rielly-Carlo
OEL-Stecher
Benoit-Myers
Extra: Rifai, Benning
Absent: McCabe
Woll
Hildeby
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Panthers expected lines
Luostarinen-Lundell-Reinhart
Verhaeghe-Bennett-Marchand
Samoskevich-Rodrigues-Greer
Boqvist-Kunin-Gregor
Forsling-Ekblad
Mikkola-Balinskis
Sebrango-Petry
Bobrovsky
Tarasov
