Mar 2, 2019
Leafs look to bounce back after dismantling on Long Island
It may be late in the NHL regular season, but school is still very much in session for the Maple Leafs as they try to bounce back from a 6-1 dismantling by the New York Islanders on Thursday with a re-grouped effort Saturday against the Buffalo Sabres, Kristen Shilton writes.
TORONTO – It may be late in the NHL regular season, but school is still very much in session for the Maple Leafs as they try to bounce back from a 6-1 dismantling by the New York Islanders on Thursday with a re-grouped effort Saturday against the Buffalo Sabres.
“I thought that was as good a lesson as we could get,” Mike Babcock said of Thursday’s outing after the Leafs’ morning skate Saturday. “I liked our game to tell you the truth; I thought it was spectacular for us through about 24 minutes. Just goes to show if you don’t keep doing it right, you can’t win in the National Hockey League. Now we have to take that lesson and internalize that and make sure we keep moving ahead.”
When the Leafs jumped out to a 1-0 lead over the Islanders, it was the first time Toronto had scored the opening goal in a game since Feb. 14. More recently, they’d been the team struggling early, and then clawing back for come-from-behind wins.
One such occasion of that was last Monday night, when the visiting Sabres outplayed the Leafs through 20 minutes and Jack Eichel had put his team up 1-0. Toronto charged back with four unanswered goals in the second, ceded the next two scores to Buffalo, and then secured their 5-3 victory with an empty-netter.
The memory of that performance, coupled with lingering frustration over how Thursday’s emotionally-charged contest got away from them in John Tavares’ return to face his former team, is fueling Toronto towards quickly re-establishing what makes them so dangerous.
“Our speed, our quickness, tenacity and ability to get out of our own end quick really lets our game flourish and generate momentum and speed,” said Tavares. “Our ability to get on the forecheck makes us hard to play against. We have to be smart with the puck. I think we have to understand when we have time and space to make plays we can take advantage of that.”
Playmaking is what Nic Petan believes he can bring to the Leafs, and the team’s only trade deadline day acquisition will get the chance to show it when he makes his team debut on Saturday. The Leafs sent Par Lindholm to Winnipeg in exchange for Petan last Monday, and he’ll replace Tyler Ennis on the fourth line with Frederik Gauthier and Trevor Moore against Buffalo.
It was a curious decision by Babcock to tap Petan now, given Ennis’ strong play has produced two goals and one assist in his last four games while his whole line has played with a lot of chemistry. But at the same time, Toronto is eager to see what Petan can do.
It’s been some time since the 23-year-old forward has had a chance to play, appearing in only 13 contests all season for the Jets and last suiting up on Dec. 22. That makes it a full 10 weeks between that game and tonight for Petan, but he resolved to stay positive through the tough time and will strive to bring speed and offence to his new role with the Leafs.
“I haven’t done it before, it’s a new thing,” he said of coming off such a long layoff in-season. “It’s obviously an exciting time, it’s been awhile. Just try and make as many plays as I can, pucks out, pucks in. If there’s a chance to make a play, I’ll make a play. I’m excited to get back out there and do the best I can.”
“Our pro scouts saw something they wanted, so we’re putting him in and giving him an opportunity,” Babcock added. “[Ennis] played real well here, so it’s tough that way. But get [Petan] an opportunity; he’ll play on the power play and with those guys who have been playing real well, so let’s see what he does.”
Petan said Babcock’s main message was to play well in the defensive zone, and “everything [else] will take over if you just work hard.”
Helping Petan in his transition back to game action is that he’s already familiar with one of his new linemates - He and Gauthier were both part of Team Canada at the 2015 World Junior Championship, winning gold on the very same ice the Leafs will skate on come Saturday at Scotiabank Arena.
“I know how [Gauthier] plays,” confirmed Petan. “[Moore] seems like a hard worker and does the right things. I think we’ll mesh pretty well if we just keep things simple and do the right things we’ll be fine.”
That advice would be well taken by another new face in the Leafs’ lineup, defenceman Martin Marincin. While the blueliner appeared in 10 games for Toronto earlier this season, he was waived and assigned to the American Hockey League last month before being recalled on Thursday when injuries took out Jake Gardiner and Travis Dermott.
Marincin had a poor first game back, posting a minus-three rating against New York in 18:14 of ice time. Rather than single out one defender's deficiencies over another in that loss, Babcock shared an easy-to-follow plan for all his defencemen come Saturday.
“You can do anything you want as a Dman, but you have to keep the puck out of your net. The puck cannot go in your net when you’re on the ice,” he said. “So, that’s the biggest challenge for all our D. I want the puck to not go in the net.”
Maple Leafs projected lineup vs. Buffalo:
Hyman-Tavares-Marner
Johnsson-Matthews-Kapanen
Marleau-Nylander-Brown
Petan-Gauthier-Moore
Rielly-Hainsey
Muzzin-Zaitsev
Marincin-Ozhiganov
Andersen starts
Sparks