Columnist image

TSN Toronto Maple Leafs Reporter

| Archive

TORONTO – Among players the Toronto Maple Leafs could least afford to lose, Morgan Rielly sits near the top of the list.

Early in the first period of Tuesday’s 4-3 win over the Buffalo Sabres, Rielly got tangled up with Sabres' winger William Carrier and went awkwardly into the half boards. He departed for the Maple Leafs’ dressing room wincing, but returned, only to take a shift and leave again with a noticeable limp. Rielly would not return with what Toronto deemed a lower-body injury.

In his absence the Maple Leafs’ other five defenders played long minutes. Jake Gardiner clocked in at 29:24, the most by any Toronto player this season. His previous career high was 28:34, back in his rookie season of 2011-12. Four of Toronto’s remaining blue liners surpassed 20 minutes, and they looked to the guys in front of them to step up too.

“Once Mo went out our game plan was to make simple plays and get it in [the Sabres] zone,” Gardiner said. “I think our forwards did a good job of playing in their end. We wanted to just make simple plays, make good passes, and let the forwards handle the work load.”

Toronto’s offence answered the call in the game’s second and third periods. An early gaffe by goaltender Frederik Andersen handed the Sabres a 1-0 lead and the Sabres added another score in the waning seconds of the first. Toronto was 3-10-1 on the season when trailing after one period, but that deficit was gone before the halfway mark of the second. The Maple Leafs chased Robin Lehner with three goals on eight shots in 9:45.

“I think we have a lot of depth up front and a lot of balance throughout the lineup,” said James van Riemsdyk, who added a fourth goal on the power play in the third to extend his point streak to a career-long eight games. “When we get in those situations, we just have to stick with our game plan and stick with what works and we’ll get some chances and hopefully we can bury them.”

As important as the offensive outburst was, Toronto’s ability to stay the course defensively ultimately secured the win. Rielly averages a team-high 22:51 a game, and is an integral part of their sixth-ranked penalty kill, making him difficult to replace. Gardiner stepped in for Rielly on special teams too.

“I thought Gardiner and [Nikita] Zaitsev were great tonight, really stepped up,” said Mike Babcock. “I thought [Matt Hunwick] had a solid game - actually all of them did pretty good. We didn’t spend a ton of time in our zone which was positive.”

What happens next is anyone’s guess. Toronto has gone 9-1-1 over their last 11 games, and Tuesday was their first win at home since Dec. 17. Babcock has been happy with his lineup and their progress in that stretch. But the coach had no update on Rielly’s status after the game, saying that the team would know more on Wednesday. Rielly has never missed a game in his NHL career with an injury. Despite skating with the team again, there is no timetable for Martin Marincin’s return. Babcock prefers guys playing on their natural side – the only extra defender Toronto currently has is Frank Corrado, who is a right shot. Who will ultimately step in to replace Rielly – a left shot – or for how long is anyone’s guess for now.

“We’ve had lots of success with no injuries,” Babcock said. “But injuries wear you down. When you get injured, you play fewer guys more and it usually leads to more. I don’t know if [Morgan]’s out a week or 10 days or a month, I don’t have a clue.”


Takeaways

Matthews makes his mark: Picking up the puck behind the Sabres’ net in the second period, Zach Hyman intended to throw it on net. But screaming for the disc from the slot was Matthews, so Hyman delivered a superb backhanded pass to set up Matthews’ 22nd goal of the season. The only Maple Leafs rookies in history with more scores are Wendel Clark (34), Daniel Marois (31) and Sergei Berezin (25). The game was Matthews’ first as a pro against his former U.S. National Team Development Program teammate Jack Eichel, and Toronto’s star got the better of Buffalo’s in every way. Matthews had more shots on goal (five), more points (one), a better plus-minus rating (zero) and perhaps most critically, he notched a career-best 13 faceoff wins to Eichel’s five. Babcock hand-picked that matchup for Matthews from the start and he rose to the occasion against a player he will be competing against most of his career.

Power players: Before Tuesday’s game, Babcock answered “no” to an inquiry about whether anything was different about the power play this season than the infusion of talent. A season ago that unit ranked 29th in the league. With van Riemsdyk’s goal on the man advantage, Toronto has gone 15-for-35 in its last 11 games on the power play and sits second in league (24.4 per cent). van Riemsdyk attributed the success of that group to increased confidence among the team at even strength as well, with early chances building momentum throughout games. On the other side, Toronto is heeding Babcock’s advice about not testing their penalty kill too much. After taking six minor penalties on Friday against the Rangers, Babcock was clear with his group their stick infractions had to be reduced. Since then, Toronto has taken just two penalties over their last two games, the lowest total over a two-game span since Dec. 7-10.

Freddie keeps growing: When Andersen sent a poor clearing attempt right into the path of Kyle Okposo, resulting in Buffalo’s opening goal, it was shades of the shaky, unsure goaltender he was to start the season. Allowing another to Evander Kane in the dying seconds of the first period was deflating too. Back in the fall those scores would have derailed Andersen’s confidence and forced him to overcompensate. Not so Tuesday. Andersen said he was hard on himself, took a breath, and got back to work. He shut the door on Buffalo until the game’s final minutes, when a sloppy defensive corps left him out to dry, stopping 27 shots. Just like their first matchup against Buffalo this season, it was a one-goal game that came down to the last second, and Andersen secured the victory again. He moves to 6-0-0 against the Sabres all-time, with only eight goals allowed.

Fourth line’s a charm: Each of Toronto’s lines contributed a score on Tuesday, the type of balanced scoring that will make the second half easier to manage. Matt Martin scored his third goal of the season from a sharp angle that hit Lehner at the right angle to trickle past him. It was a positive sign for a fourth line group that’s been getting steadily better as rookie center Frederik Gauthier has been adjusting to the NHL. Martin and Gauthier led the club’s forwards in puck possession, with Martin clocking it at 83.33 per cent Corsi-for and Gauthier at 70.00 per cent.

Next game: The Maple Leafs continue their homestand Thursday against the New York Rangers. They beat the Rangers 4-2 in New York last Friday.