Both teams feeling the heat as Battle of Ontario reignites

The Maple Leafs skated at Scotiabank Arena on Wednesday. The Ottawa Senators held a meeting at their hotel. 

"Their schedule probably couldn't have lined up any better than it has," the Leafs coach pointed out. "They had practice time. They haven't played games. They're hunkered down at the hotel to avoid you guys here to stay focused and be ready. So, we're expecting their best, no doubt."

The Leafs snapped a four-game skid (0-2-2) with a home win against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday. Toronto is in the middle of a seven-games-in-12-days stretch and opted to take Tuesday off, which necessitated a full skate on Wednesday morning.

The Senators have not played since losing to the Lightning at home on Saturday. After a day off on Sunday, the team held practices on Monday and Tuesday. As a result, they did not have a skate on Wednesday morning.

Time off, however, isn't always a good thing.

"You lose a game and then you get a couple days to think about it," coach D.J. Smith told reporters at a lightly attended availability, which coincided with Keefe's news conference. "Sometimes you get a little bit overthinking, I guess, would be the word. For me, let's just get in a rhythm and get playing and let's make our next 10 better than our first 10."

Ottawa has lost five and six to fall into last place in the Atlantic Division at 4-6-0. Fans called for Smith's firing and booed the players off the ice on Saturday, which led to an emotional media session with captain Brady Tkachuk.

"You always expect tough tests from them," said Leafs captain John Tavares. "If they have extra fuel to their fire, we have to be ready for it and understand we're trying to build our game and get things going in our direction as well."

The Leafs are off to an uneven start with a 6-4-2 record, which puts them fourth in the Atlantic Division. Toronto also heard some boos from the home fans on Monday when they trailed 4-1 after the first period. Auston Matthews sparked the comeback with a pair of goals and an emphatic celebration directed at the fans.

"They faced some adversity as well," said Senators defenceman Jakob Chychrun. "I know last game they came back from a three-goal deficit and they're a team that before that they were also feeling a lot of the pressure as well."

The Leafs decided not to make Matthews or Mitch Marner available to reporters despite requests on Wednesday. So, both teams are managing the media ahead of this game. It's just part of playing in a Canadian market.

"The hockey here is literally like a religion," said Leafs forward Max Domi. "It's really all people think about and talk about, so there's a certain set of expectations and a microscope on you day in, day out, and I think it's a good thing for a lot of guys. It keeps you accountable."

Domi has seen both sides of this equation, having played in non-traditional markets Arizona, Carolina, and Dallas as well as hockey hotbeds like Montreal and Toronto.

"Pressure is a good thing," Domi continued. "When you're struggling you need that stuff to get you through it sometimes or else that kind of snowballs into a bunch of tough games. For me, personally, I enjoy it and I know everyone in this locker room enjoys it. It's a great place to play."

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Domi's dad, Tie, was a prominent figure on the Leafs when the Battle of Ontario was at its peak. The provincial rivals met in the playoffs in 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2004.

"Joe Nieuwendyk had that big game," Domi recalled of the two-goal performance in Game 7 of the 2004 series. "It was huge. I remember that one pretty vividly. Great memories of watching these two teams way back when. It was a lot of fun so excited to be part of it tonight."

Domi snapped a five-game point drought with an assist in Monday's win. It was his first full game as a centre with the Leafs.

"When you get put in the middle of the ice it frees you up a little bit with your speed," Domi said. "A lot more puck touches and an ability to make plays through the middle of the ice, so I enjoyed it and for sure something to build on."

Keefe agrees.

"Maybe centre frees him up to skate the way he did and have the puck on his stick more like he did," the coach noted. "I think that will help his overall game no matter where we use him just as he finds that rhythm. It's certainly a nice option to have. It worked the other night, so we'll stay with that."

Domi seemed to find instant chemistry with Nick Robertson, who was called up from the American Hockey League on Monday. Domi set up Robertson on the play that led to the Calle Jarnkrok tying goal against the Lightning.

"We were getting the give-and-go game [going] a little bit," Domi said. "I think he knows I'm more of a passer and obviously he's a trigger guy, so I told him to just find his spot and then I'll find him and whenever he gets the puck just shoot it. I thought he did a great job. You look at the goal Jarny had, the first one that Jarny had, and that's basically exactly it. Find him in a soft spot there and great release and that's a heavy shot. He can shoot a puck so it's tough for goalies to handle that and obviously it popped out to Jarny. That's a big goal for us."

The Leafs have struggled to fill the third-line centre spot this season. Rookie Fraser Minten started there before getting scratched and being sent back to the Kamloops Blazers of the Western Hockey League. Pontus Holmberg and David Kampf have also got a look.

Could Domi, who played centre last season in Chicago and Dallas, be a long-term fix?

"I mean, he's played it before," Keefe pointed out. "He's played an important role in Dallas in the most important time of the year and played down the middle of the ice. If I just take the one-game sample we have here, sure, I'd say yes. If you can play like that it can absolutely work for us. We'll take it a game at a time."

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The Leafs have also been looking for a top-line winger to play with Matthews and Marner. Tyler Bertuzzi got the first chance there followed by Jarnkrok. William Nylander also got bumped up in a couple games when the Leafs were trailing.

On Monday, rookie Matthew Knies got his chance and made it count.

"It was the most tempo and pace that he's played with in terms of his hunger to get the puck back and moving his feet and getting on top of the puck and winning puck battles," observed Keefe. "That's the best we've seen him in that regard."

"Just playing with those two gives you confidence," Knies said. "They make other players around them better. And just getting to learn from them, little things, little tips on the bench ... I'm just going to try to use that moving forward."

Knies scored a goal and added two assists on Monday. The 21-year-old simplified his game in order to maximize his chance beside the dynamic duo.

"They have the puck skill, right," Knies said with a smile. "Like, let them dance. Let them do the work. It's my role to be around the net, screen the goalie, and do the little things for them and, you know, just make their life a little bit easier."

Knies didn't pick up a point on the play, but the 6-foot-3, 217 pounder set a great screen on the first Matthews goal against Tampa.

"He's a confident guy, so he's not intimidated by that," Keefe said of the top-line assignment. "Maybe the responsibility of playing with those guys brought out the best in him and wanting to do his part for them and he did that and then some. It was terrific to see."

Knies enjoyed getting an up close look at how Matthews and Marner operate.

"You can see the chemistry on the ice, the way they can find each other, the way they talk," he said. "What I see on the bench is they're not afraid to get on each other. When one needs to get going, they're not afraid to speak and I love that about those guys, that they really care, they really want to push themselves. I think they both make each other better and that affects me as well."

Knies, a Phoenix native, has a built-in chemistry with Matthews, who he skates with in the summer.

"That little familiar chemistry that we had prior to this, it helps," he said. "It's pretty crazy to see, two guys from Arizona in such a big hockey market, here in Toronto."

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New assistant coach Guy Boucher, who is overseeing the power play, prefers to do drills without any penalty killers. As a result, the Leafs have dedicated less practice time to penalty killing this season.

"Part of that is affecting us a little bit, as we've seen," Keefe said. "We didn't think it would have as big an impact and I personally don't think it should. We got some guys who make their living because they kill penalties and do it well and we expect them to be better at it."

Top-unit killer David Kampf was on the ice for the first of two Lightning power play goals on Monday. The Leafs have dropped to 24th in the NHL with a penalty kill percentage of 71.8.

"It's hard to practice the penalty kill because what you're doing with your own team is different from what you'll see with the opposition," Keefe noted. "But you can work on different things and different details and get the reps in when you're going against your own team and then make the adjustments through video, and we've done less of that as a group. So, we'll try and ramp that up and get that going."

Wednesday's skate featured some penalty-kill work with assistant coach Dean Chynoweth offering instruction before and after reps. The main message?

"Puck pressure," revealed Knies. "We've been a little passive and letting them make too many plays. We let [Nikita] Kucherov handle the puck a little too often. He's a dangerous player, who can make plays. We got to have more puck pressure and get it out of their hands a little bit quicker and that will help us be more successful and deny them those opportunities to score."

Knies is among a handful of new players getting an opportunity on the penalty kill this season.

"We need to execute better," Keefe said. "It started as some of the newer guys and working them in and now we got some guys that got a lot of experience on it and have made mistakes that we don’t expect them to make."

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Defenceman Morgan Rielly started Monday's game on the top power-play unit. John Klingberg has taken the majority of shifts in that spot this season.

"We’ve got different looks with a left-hander and a right-hander," Keefe explained. "It's less about the individual and more about sone of the different looks based on what we want to accomplish."

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Defenceman Jake McCabe (groin) is expected to miss a sixth straight game.

Joseph Woll gets the start in net on Wednesday. It will be his eighth game of the season, which sets a new career high in an NHL regular season.

Ilya Samsonov, who was pulled in the first period on Monday, hit the ice before the main skate to do some work with goalie coach Curtis Sanford, player development staff member Nik Antropov and assistant to the general manager Shane Doan.

"Just putting in the work," said Keefe. "It's the only way to get through it is to continue to work. We talk consistency in all areas of the game, but at the goaltending position, I don't think there's an area more technical that requires a precision and consistency and a plan as that. So, it's continue to work on that foundation and go back to that."

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Senators defenceman Artem Zub will take warm-up and is trending toward a return on Wednesday.

"He is a guy who has played a lot of games, and he can really defend," said Smith. "He is going to help the penalty kill. He is going to help your breakouts; he's going to help your rush against. He hasn't played in a while, it’s not going to be the exact same, but he is a guy who can eat a lot of minutes and is a very solid defender."

Zub has been sidelined since Oct. 18.

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Lines at Leafs skate: 

Knies - Matthews - Marner

Bertuzzi- Tavares - Nylander

Robertson - Domi - Jarnkrok

Gregor - Kampf - Reaves

Rielly - Brodie

Giordano - Klingberg

Lagesson - Benoit

McCabe - Lajoie

Timmins

Woll starts

Samsonov