Leafs' Kallgren to see first career back-to-back start

TSN SportsCentre Reporter Mark Masters reports on the Toronto Maple Leafs, who held a team meeting on Saturday at Scotiabank Arena. The Vancouver Canucks held an optional skate. 

Erik Kallgren will start on consecutive nights for the first time in the National Hockey League. 

"He's earned it," said coach Sheldon Keefe. "Back-to-back, of course, is far from ideal and normally it's when you would make a goalie change, but the fact there's no travel in this one, I think it's a little bit different."

It's also different because of Toronto's goalie situation. Matt Murray (adductor) and Ilya Samsonov (knee) are unavailable due to injury. The current backup is 23-year-old Keith Petruzzelli, who has never played in the NHL and only has 11 games of experience in the American Hockey League.

Kallgren allowed three goals on 22 shots in a loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday in Toronto. He took the blame afterwards saying he should have stopped the Brock McGinn game-winning goal in the third period.

"It's not good enough by me," Kallgren said solemnly. "It's just not good enough. I feel bad for the team. I got to be making that save and we have a good chance at winning the game."

"I didn't think twice about that goal," Keefe said. "Let's not make a big deal of it. I thought he had a great game for us. I think he's in a groove right now."

The statistics paint a different picture. Kallgren is 1-2-3 with an .886 save percentage this season.

"He's playing as well as he has," Keefe insisted. "I mean, numbers and stuff are what they are, but just watching the goalie and watching how he moves and how he reacts and deals with different situations to me he's gaining more confidence and looks even stronger in the net."

Kallgren is 1-1-1 with an .899 save percentage since Samsonov left last Saturday's game. 

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The Canucks will give Oakville, Ont. native Spencer Martin his first hometown start. 

"I'm sure he's going to have lots of friends and family here tonight so we'll want to play well in front of him," said Canucks captain Bo Horvat, who's from London, Ont. "I'm sure he's going to want to play well tonight."

Bruce Boudreau stressed this wasn't a sentimental choice. Martin has won three of four starts and earned this opportunity on merit.  

Thatcher Demko, who allowed five goals in Wednesday's loss in Montreal, is 1-7-2 with an .874 save percentage. 

"I think a lot of it is confidence," Boudreau told reporters. "He's working through some things."

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Murray, who sustained an adductor injury four weeks ago, looked good in a pair of practices this week. Why was he ruled out of Saturday's game? 

"They wanted to continue to build up his workload," Keefe explained. "Physically he's doing good. He's been cleared and all that sort of stuff. The two practice days were really important to give him those reps and give him an opportunity to see where he was at. After he got through the first one [on Wednesday] they started to look at it and there's a lot of things our performance [and medical] team tracks for players coming back from injury and they felt a little more time would serve him well. At this point, we're working more towards Tuesday for him."

On Tuesday, the Leafs play in Pittsburgh, where Murray suited up for the Penguins from 2015-20. Murray has only faced his former team once and that game was in Ottawa. 

Keefe noted that Samsonov is progressing "really well" and may return to practice on Monday. 

"It's been positive," Keefe said of the recovery process. "I'm not sure exactly what the plan would be, but I think we'll see him take a big step come Monday and work towards a return from there."

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Ilya Mikheyev will face the Leafs for the first time on Saturday. What will it be like? 

"I don't know," the 28-year-old winger said. "I haven't experienced before playing against ex-team. We'll see in the evening ... It's weird, but it's life. Of course, I'm happy to play against Toronto. I'm excited." 

Mikheyev suited up in 146 games with Toronto over the last three seasons. He broke out with 21 goals and 32 points last season.

Mikheyev signed a four-year, $19-million deal with the Canucks in the summer. 

"He's added a speed dimension that we don't have and he's chipping in goals," Boudreau told reporters. "He's well on his way to a 25-goal season and more points than he's had in the past. He does a lot of good things for us. Because he missed a lot of training camp, he's just starting to get better."

Mikheyev has four goals and four assists in 11 games. He will start Saturday's game on the top line with J.T. Miller and Brock Boeser. 

"Obviously a fast forward so have to have our gaps pretty good to shut him down," said Leafs defenceman Timothy Liljegren with a smile. "He's pretty fast. He gets going really quick as well so you really have to be on your toes."

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Borje Salming received a big ovation when introduced as part of the Hockey Hall of Fame pre-game ceremony on Saturday. The former Leafs defenceman, one of the greatest to ever put on Toronto's sweater, is battling ALS. Darryl Sittler was in tears as he helped his former teammate wave to the crowd.

"In talking to his family, they said back in Sweden it's hard for him," Sittler told TSN. "A moment like this gives him some happiness, some hope. He loves seeing guys like Lanny [McDonald], Tiger [Williams], myself, the other guys, the Swedes. It was a special night. They say they haven't seen him smile as much as he has this evening, which is awesome." 

William Nylander gave Salming a hug before he left the ice. 

"It was very emotional," the 26-year-old winger said. "He was very nice to me whenever I spoke to him when I first got to Toronto and whenever I saw him. So, that's obviously very, very hard to see."

 Nylander, like teammate Rasmus Sandin, has a personal connection to Salming. 

"I was out in Stockholm one night and he was also out so we had a few drinks together," Nylander recalled. "That was a special moment that I'll actually always remember." 

The team plans to give Salming a solo tribute on Saturday night. 

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Friday was a strange experience for Zach Aston-Reese, who faced his old team for the first time. 

"It's just awkward," the former Penguin said. "It's kind of like going to dinner with your ex-girlfriend or something. That's how I'd sum the night up."

Aston-Reese scored a goal while landing two hits and blocking two shots. 

"I was pretty fired up," the 28-year-old said. "I tried to play a simple game and get in on the forecheck. Tried to have a few hits. I didn't want to kill them too much, you know, guys I played with for that long. But, just tried to play a simple game and thought I was pretty effective."

On Tuesday, Aston-Reese will return to Pittsburgh. What needs to change for the Leafs to get a win? 

"Pittsburgh's a team you got to be patient against because you're going to play a lot of D-zone," Aston-Reese said. "If you can keep them to the outside, they're going to get frustrated and take some chances, and that's when you got to strike and take advantage of those opportunities, but I don't think we did a good job of that." 

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As part of a video posted to team social media channels, players were asked to name their favourite cheat meal. 

"Big Mac," said Mark Giordano. "Six nuggets. Super-size fries. And New York Cheesecake with strawberries on top for dessert."

"Probably a burger," said T.J. Brodie. 

"Chicken parm," said John Tavares. "Can't beat it."

"Kebab pizza with French fries," said Liljegren. 

"Two burgers," Mitch Marner said. "Fries. Hot dog."

"Pizza, obviously," said Morgan Rielly. 

But one man refused to play along. 

"I don't eat cheat meals," said David Kampf shaking his head. "Not for me."

There's a reason why Kampf may be in the best shape on the team. He created a buzz with an off-season shirtless picture while on vacation. 

"I showed that to my fiancee right away," Marner said during a summer scrum with reporters at his Marner Assist Foundation charity event. "I showed it to one of my buddies the other day. I said, 'He's the most jacked guy I've ever seen in the NHL and it's not even close.' When he takes his shirt off probably not a lot of guys in our room love it. He's ripped."

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Keefe is planning to dress the same players as on Friday, but there is one game-time decision on defence. Jordie Benn is on standby and may make his Leafs debut. 

Canucks lines at Saturday's skate: 

Mikheyev - Miller - Boeser
Podkolzin - Horvat - Garland
Kuzmenko - Dries - Höglander
Joshua - Äman - Studnicka

Ekman-Larsson - Myers
Burroughs - Schenn
Stillman - Bear
Rathbone - Dermott

Martin starts 
Demko