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TSN Toronto Maple Leafs Reporter

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TORONTO – The Maple Leafs will get captain John Tavares back from a finger injury when they face the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday night.

Tavares’ return won’t be the only change to the Toronto lineup. Defenceman Jake Muzzin will slot back in after missing Saturday’s game for personal reasons, and forward Nic Petan will play after being recalled from the American Hockey League’s Toronto Marlies on Tuesday morning.

“I felt really good, made really good progress and I’m ready to play and excited to get back at it,” Tavares said after the Leafs’ optional morning skate. “In general, we just want to continue to get better and we want to be a little bit more consistent with our play, and try to build some momentum and get that ball rolling.”

Tavares missed the Leafs’ past seven games after an errant shot from defenceman Morgan Rielly broke his finger on Oct. 16. Toronto then cobbled together a 3-2-2 record without Tavares, who will be reunited on a line with Mitch Marner and Trevor Moore.

Head coach Mike Babcock said Jason Spezza and Dmytro Timashov will come out to make room for Tavares and Petan, but he emphasized that “no one did anything wrong.” In the case of adding Petan, it was simply a matter of recognizing how well the winger played over the weekend for the Marlies by producing five points (two goals, three assists) in two games.

Petan has one assist for the Leafs in four NHL contests this season. He was returned to the Marlies on Nov. 1 after last playing for Toronto against Boston on Oct. 22.

“We liked what Pete’s done the whole time. We liked that he’s worked hard,” Babcock said. “He didn’t ask to go down, but he wanted to play, we wanted to get him in. He went down, played well, he's back. He gets a good opportunity tonight and we’ll see how it goes.”

The recall of Petan, which puts the Leafs at the maximum of 23 players, raises further questions about what the team will do once winger Zach Hyman comes back from an ACL tear, especially after Babcock said Tuesday that Hyman is “knocking on the door” of a return.

When Hyman is activated from long-term injured reserve, cap constraints will most likely require Toronto reduce its roster to 20 players. Unlike Petan, Timashov and Spezza haven’t cleared waivers yet this season, so the Leafs would have to risk exposing them to being claimed in the event of a roster cut down. Martin Marincin also projects to be on the chopping block, and would also need to clear waivers in order to stay in the organization. 

What matters most to Babcock, looming cuts or not, is that the Leafs have the best possible personnel on the ice.

“[The decisions] are always difficult,” Babcock said. “The most difficult part [right now] is a guy who played good last game doesn’t get to play this game. But that’s also life. We're going to do whatever we have to do on each day to win that day.”

For now, that means putting Petan on the fourth line with Nick Shore and Frederik Gauthier, and seeing if he can build on last weekend’s AHL success against a struggling L.A. team.

In their first season under head coach Todd McLellan, the Kings come into Tuesday’s game with the highest goals against per game (4.07) in the NHL, and eighth-fewest goals for (2.71).

Despite their own inconsistencies lately, the Leafs are still averaging 3.47 goals per game, and following a 4-3 shootout win over the Flyers on Saturday, actually have some positive momentum to build from on home ice.

“It's just playing the game that plays to our identity and playing with the puck and not having to defend, doing a good job on special teams,” Tavares said of what will make the Leafs successful. “[We need to be] creating opportunities, putting the puck in the net when you get your chances and doing a good job in our end and eliminating opportunities and making the saves easy on [Frederik Andersen].”

Having Muzzin back patrolling the Leafs’ blueline will also be a welcome boost. The defenceman, who missed the second and third period of last Tuesday’s loss to Washington with a charley horse before sitting out Saturday’s tilt, signed as a free agent with L.A. in 2010, and played nearly 500 games for the Kings before Toronto acquired him last January in exchange for a 2019 first-round pick and two prospects.

Tuesday will be the first time Muzzin sees his former teammates on the ice, several of whom he won a Stanley Cup with in 2014.

“I try not to think about it but it's tough,” Muzzin said. “You see the lineup on the board and then you see all the guys that you played with for a long time. It’ll be fun tonight. I've never done it so it’ll be interesting to see what I feel out there. I’m kind of curious to see what's going to happen.”

Muzzin joked he’s still getting used to Toronto and the increased media attention that comes with being a Leaf, but as a 30-year-old veteran he’s also confident in the role he’s carved out as a mentor to the team’s younger contingent.

“I just try to help the guys here where I can,” Muzzin said. “In L.A. [I was] part of a lot of good hockey teams, so there was a lot of lessons on the ice and away from the rink. You learn a lot. When it comes down to it, I’m just trying to help win those tough games [here] and get [us] into the playoffs.”

Maple Leafs projected lineup vs. Los Angeles

Moore-Tavares-Marner

Johnsson-Matthews-Nylander

Mikheyev-Kerfoot-Kapanen

Petan-Shore-Gauthier

Rielly-Ceci

Muzzin-Barrie

Dermott-Holl

Andersen

Hutchinson