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TSN Toronto Reporter Mark Masters reports on the Maple Leafs, who held a practice on Thursday at Bell MTS Place in Winnipeg ahead of Friday’s game against the Jets.

Frederik Andersen had a follow-up appointment regarding his lower-body injury on Thursday.
 
"The feedback I've been given is that he is progressing well and we'll continue to monitor him and re-assess him next week," said head coach Sheldon Keefe. 
 
Andersen will not join the team on this road trip, which wraps up Monday in Calgary. Toronto's No. 1 goalie hasn't been on the ice since a game on March 19. 

"The expectation is he will come back fully healthy and will not rush back," TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun reported on Insider Trading. "And that's what happened earlier in the season. I'm told Andersen rushed back and wasn't totally 100 per cent. Jack Campbell was out at the time so he wanted to do that to help his team, but that led to the setback that he's still dealing with." 
 
Andersen missed four games with the injury in late February and early March. He then lost five of seven games after returning to the lineup and admitted he wasn't where he wanted to be physically. 

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Campbell sustained a leg injury on Jan. 24, which he then aggravated upon returning to the lineup on Feb. 27. He missed another three weeks after that. Campbell returned to the starting lineup again on March 20, but the team is being cautious with his workload. He missed Sunday's practice and didn't dress in Monday's​ game. 
 
"It's tough," Campbell said after a 26-save win on Wednesday. "As a competitor and a teammate I feel bad sometimes when I get days off and the other guys are grinding and it just puts more fire in my belly to perform when I get called upon."
 
Campbell had no reason to feel guilty on Thursday as he got the green light from the medical staff to take the ice with teammates. He did split reps with the third goalie on the ice, Ian Scott, but his presence was a positive sign. 
 
Keefe was asked if it was a relief to see Campbell on the ice. 
 
"Relief is not the right word," the coach said. "Yes, it's nice to have him out there, but I wouldn't necessarily call it a relief. We've been going along with a plan with him. I've never been too concerned about it in terms of how we were managing it."

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Toronto's top line is humming along nicely with Zach Hyman back on left wing alongside Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner. The trio, which controlled possession against the Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl line on Monday, continued to build momentum against the Jets, combining for a pair of goals in the first period on Wednesday. ​
"They had a lot of jump, they were around the puck and they attacked the net," Keefe observed. "Nothing too fancy about it, just work from all three of them." 
 
Marner pointed out that the line didn't get much off the rush. This was a real blue-collar effort fuelled by a strong cycle game.  
 
"All three of us were working around the puck well," the shifty winger noted, "and when we were on the wall, we were finding ways to get it off quickly and trying to find people going down the wall or holes."
 
Per NaturalStatTrick, in 10 minutes and 38 seconds of five-on-five time against Toronto's top line, Winnipeg mustered just one shot on net while the Leafs had eight. 
 
"As incredible as they look offensively, it's amazing how strong they are and how hard they work defensively," raved Campbell. "All of them come back, take pucks away, stick check, take the body. They just make amazing plays. For them to play together, they just seem to have amazing chemistry."
 
Matthews scored for a third straight game and said his injured wrist is feeling much better. Marner has now picked up a point in nine of 10 games. 
 
"They're tenacious," Hyman said of his linemates. "Auston isn't afraid to get into a shot lane and for a centre that's very important. He blocks a lot of shots when it gets by me or Mitch." 
 
Matthews leads all Leafs forwards in blocked shots this season and Marner isn't far behind. 
 
"Mitchy is one of the best penalty killers I've ever seen," Campbell said. "He's so smart out there." 
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"Mitchy's always tracking back hard," Hyman continued. "His stick is always active. He's always picking up pucks and creating havoc for the other team. They're both elite talents offensively and I think their defensive game is really good as well and it goes underrated because of how good they are offensively."  

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Hyman has turned winning puck battles into an art form. 
 
"He's just always got the perfect body position," Marner marvelled, "and if not he's always tying up sticks and trying to make the puck die in a spot to let whoever he's playing with come in and pitch it out."
 
The Jets seemed determined to make Hyman pay a physical price on Wednesday. Pierre-Luc Dubois actually missed Hyman and ran into teammate Derek Forbort on the sequence leading to Toronto's opening goal by Matthews. 

Hyman tapped home the second goal of the night as Tucker Poolman struggled in vain to box him out. Hyman ended up on top of Connor Hellebuyck so Winnipeg challenged for goalie interference, but the call on the ice stood. 

Hyman has now scored eight goals in the last 15 games. And while the goals are nice, Hyman's true value lies in his ability to consistently get his team control of the puck. 
 
"He's very strong, but he's also very intelligent with how he goes about it," noted Keefe. "He establishes body positioning early. So, take the combination of someone who’s very strong physically, has the work ethic to get to good spaces and then strategically positions himself to seal off the defender so he gets access to the puck ...  [it’s] all those little pieces coming together." 
 
Add it all up and Hyman is a beast to deal with especially on the forecheck. 
 
"He's just a dog," said defenceman Morgan Rielly with a laugh. "I just enjoy watching him work. I really admire what he does. Watching him just hound the puck the way he does often makes me smile on the bench. I'm glad I don't have to deal with him." 

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The Leafs spent most of practice working on the power play. Assistant coach Manny Malhotra held court at the white board before sending the groups to opposite ends for reps against the penalty kill. 
 
"Probably the biggest focus was re-organizing our units," said Keefe. "We've really gotten away from what was successful for us at the start of the season. We had to make a bunch of adjustments to account for injuries that we had and then we've really been kind of chasing it for the last handful of games."
 
The Leafs have failed to bulge the twine on the power play in nine straight games going 0-for-23 in that stretch. Toronto missed on five chances on Wednesday, producing just five shots.
 
"We're not doing a very good job creating, really, many chances and getting good looks," said Matthews, who leads the team with eight power-play goals. "I know we tried to switch some things around and it didn't really work."
 
During the game against the Jets, Toronto had William Nylander and Wayne Simmonds flip units. With Nylander on the flank, Marner moved down low with the top group. Alex Galchenyuk got a look with the second unit and Hyman was bumped from that group. 
 
"Didn't like the way that it went," Keefe said. "Really focusing now on getting back to what our identity was at the start of this season, which is two true units that are going to be fresh and going to have legs and going to have urgency and going to push and compete with each other for the opportunity to get on the ice."
 
Here's how the Leafs practised on Thursday: 
 
Rielly 
Matthews - Tavares - Marner 
Simmonds 
 
Brodie / Muzzin  
Nylander - Thornton - Spezza 
Hyman 
 
The return of Simmonds, who has now played six games since missing six weeks with a broken wrist, should help. Malhotra's system puts an emphasis on the net-front presence. Since the start of the 2010-11 season, Simmonds is fourth overall in power-play goals with 100. Hyman has also proven to be an effective net-front presence. 
 
"To start, we got to get more pucks to the net," said Rielly. "There were periods of time when we were passing it around the perimeter and trying to get a play that we liked and we kind of waited too long. We worked on it today, trying to get pucks to the net and trying to create opportunities by rebounds and shots."
 
Prior to this drought, the Leafs had been converting on 31.7 per cent of their chances through 27 games, which led the league. Despite the dry spell, the team still ranks sixth overall. 
 
"We just got to get back and, super cliche, but keep things simple like shooting the puck and getting guys down there and outnumbering them at the net," said Matthews. "We just need one to go in and then everyone will just relax and we'll be fine."
 
Jake Muzzin may be in line to get a look as the quarterback with the second unit as he split reps with T.J. Brodie at practice, but the issues go beyond personnel moves. 
 
"We want to break down the opponent's pressure a little bit better, handle that a little better," said John Tavares, who has scored five of his 10 goals this season on the power play. "When we get opportunities to get the puck to the net, we can get them there a little more frequently."

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Lines at Thursday's practice:  
 
Hyman - Matthews - Marner 
Galchenyuk - Tavares - Nylander
Thornton - Kerfoot - Spezza 
Mikheyev - Engvall - Simmonds
Barabanov - Brooks - Sabourin
 
Rielly - Brodie 
Muzzin - Holl
Dermott - Bogosian
Marincin - Liljegren 
 
Campbell
Hutchinson
Scott