Knies moved up to Tavares line as Leafs prep for playoff rematch
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The Maple Leafs practised at Ford Performance Centre on Wednesday before flying to Florida to start a five-game road trip. The Leafs face the Panthers Thursday night in Sunrise, Fla.
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The Leafs are shaking up their middle six forward lines ahead of the season's first road game. At Wednesday's practice, Matthew Knies moved up to the second line with John Tavares and William Nylander.
"Going out on the road, I wanted to rejig some things," coach Sheldon Keefe explained. "I think Knies has a lot more to offer us as well."
Knies has yet to hit the scoresheet while skating alongside fellow rookie Fraser Minten on the third line. Knies only played 10 minutes and 27 seconds during Monday's 4-1 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks.
"I think Knies has actually played well," said Keefe. "I have just kind of lost him a little bit on that line. He has more to offer us. Coming out on the road is a chance for him to be more involved with those guys."
Knies made an immediate impact after joining the Leafs out of the University of Minnesota late last season. The 6-foot-3, 217-pound winger played three regular-season games and then seven more in the playoffs.
"It's amazing how physically mature and dominant he can be at his age," said Tavares, who started camp on a line with Knies and played briefly on a line with him in the playoffs. "You see his ability to make a play, soft hands, poised with the puck so we think very highly of him here and know he has tremendous potential."
Knies, who celebrated his 21st birthday on Tuesday, flashed that potential in the playoffs scoring one goal and adding three assists before being concussed by a Sam Bennett takedown in Game 2 of the second-round series against the Florida Panthers. Bennett (lower body) will not play for the Panthers on Thursday.
"Knies is still a young guy," noted Keefe. "He is still learning a lot."
Calle Jarnkrok will shift to the third line with Minten and Max Domi. Minten, a 19-year-old rookie, is still getting his feet wet in the NHL while Domi is minus-3 on the season and adjusting to a new team.
"With Jarny's stabilizing presence defensively, I think it makes sense to give it a try going out on the road," Keefe said.
The coach believes Jarnkrok has brought "a calming presence" to any line he's played on.
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After spending training camp in a hotel, Knies and Minten have moved in with the Tavares family.
"My boys love it," said the 33-year-old captain, who has three young sons. "Having them around and asking questions, having fun, and nice celebrating Kniesy's birthday yesterday too."
Did they get him cake?
"We didn't have a cake," Tavares said with a smile. "Dropped the ball a little bit there, but my boys were really excited to give them a gift. So, when they got home from their school and gave him a gift they were pretty fired up about it and happy to say, 'Happy Birthday' and sing 'Happy Birthday' which was good."
What was the gift?
"Suitcase and I think a shirt as well," Tavares said. "Sweater or shirt."
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Amid Toronto's offensive explosion to start the season, Mitch Marner has been the quietest member of the core four. How does the winger, who has produced three assists, feel about his game?
"Pretty good," he said. "Happy with the conditioning ... and being able to play those minutes and not feel too tired or too gassed where I can't do my job."
Marner leads all NHL forwards in average ice time at 23 minutes and 45 seconds. Linemate Auston Matthews isn't too far behind at 23 minutes and 20 seconds.
Matthews opened the season with a pair of hat tricks, but only two of the goals came in 5-on-5 play.
"I think our line's had some really good looks that just haven't gone in," Marner said. "We've created some havoc and I think every once in a while we kind of get carried away with making the extra play or something like that, but I've been happy with us three."
Tyler Bertuzzi, who is the left winger on the top line, missed practice, but is expected to play on Thursday.
"I am told he will be available," said Keefe. "Today was just a maintenance day to help him be fully ready to go tomorrow. As of now, I am expecting to have him."
Bertuzzi's only goal this season came on the power play.
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Keefe is doing his part to keep the stars fresh. Wednesday's practice started with the top power-play unit doing work on one pad with assistant coach Guy Boucher while the rest of the team did drills on another sheet.
"Just a simple way to manage their workload and not disrupt the flow of my practice," Keefe explained. "We wanted to get some power-play work in, but we were talking about maybe doing it after practice, which would have added extra time to those guys. We wanted to find a balance of giving them their time but still having the rest of the group active and moving."
Keefe has leaned on his top players early in the season as Toronto played mostly from behind against Montreal in the opener, which went to overtime, and then Monday against Chicago.
As a result, the bottom-six players haven't gotten much ice time. Domi, Minten and Knies are all averaging just over 12 minutes per night. That can make it challenging to get in a rhythm.
"A player has to find their game individually," said Keefe. "I have to help them along with that. At the same time, you have a lot of guys you are trying to introduce, get going, and get comfortable. All four of our left wingers are new. You are trying to find the right mix for everybody, but everybody is responsible for maximizing the minutes they do get. It will settle into place. As we go out on the road, the rejigging of the lines is about more consistently trying to get guys out there.”
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The defence pairs got shuffled during the third period on Monday night. The struggling second pair of Jake McCabe and John Klingberg got split up. Timothy Liljegren joined McCabe while Klingberg moved down to play with Mark Giordano. The new pairs remained together at practice.
"You want to give it time to breathe, but you also need to perform well," Keefe said. "You need to get good results. That is the balance ... We are kind of working through that. I think you will see [assistant coach] Mike Van Ryn mix things up and use guys in different spots."
The Leafs have allowed 13 goals in three games. Part of that, Keefe says, is integrating new players into the lineup. The coach wants to provide the players a chance to get comfortable on lines and pairings, but sometimes changes are necessary.
"They are trying to get comfortable and I am trying to get comfortable with them, too," Keefe said. "I am trying to find out what the right mix is. Sometimes you have to really find your team game before you can start to focus on some of the other things. It is on me to manage that. We have talked about having new players on each line and how that can present some challenges, but there are also great opportunities there for guys to find chemistry."
The Leafs aren't using the time of year as an excuse for the defensive breakdowns.
"We can say, 'It's a long season,' but we want to get our game going as soon as possible," Tavares stressed. "Each game matters the same so the points are important and continuing to get better and improve is extremely important."
The Leafs have started slowly in each of the past two seasons. Keefe reduced the workload in training camp to ensure his top players were fresh for the start of the year.
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Nylander certainly looks fresh. He's produced three goals and three assists so far, including a really nice play to set up the Tavares goal on Monday. But Keefe wasn't willing to let the winger off the hook when asked about Nylander's strong start on Monday night.
"He made a mistake on the transition on the one goal against," the coach said highlighted. "He is playing D, and he has to play D and let our guys recover."
The coach didn't single out Nylander, though.
"The turnover stuff early on — it's all just careless with the puck, and it is all of our best players," Keefe said. "Really, really careless to start the game. That didn't give us a chance to take hold of the game like you want to be able to do on home ice."
The Leafs have made a habit of lacking urgency against teams below them in the standings in recent years.
"We weren't able to take charge of the game and then you let your opponent hang around," Keefe said. "We have seen this movie before."
That's one reason why this trip will be interesting. Toronto has had some of its worst losses on the road early in recent seasons, including a blowout in Pittsburgh two years ago and a winless run through California last year.
"Obviously some defensive flaws we got to clean up," said Marner, "diving in on pucks we shouldn't be, being above people, that's something we know we got to be a lot better at and something that will be a focus on this road trip. We're playing some serious heavy-hitting teams here with some offensive power. So, we got to make sure we’re being above, being smart with the puck and not giving up too many odd-men rushes."
The Leafs will play in Tampa on Saturday before wrapping up the trip with games in Washington, Dallas and Nashville next week.
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Thursday's game will be a playoff rematch against the team that eliminated the Leafs. So, any extra emotion?
"Maybe, yeah, there's some extra motivation, especially with what happened last year," said Marner.
"It's obviously a sour taste in your mouth," agreed Tavares.
"There's always a little bit extra, I think," said winger Ryan Reaves. "I always look forward to those games the next year especially when it's earlier in the season. Usually a little extra emotion because they took your dream away so you come out swinging."
However, both Tavares and Marner stressed that the team is focused on the present rather than the past.
And the Leafs are a different team now. New general manager Brad Treliving added some "snot" in the off-season in an attempt to prepare the Leafs for a long and gruelling playoff run.
"It can't just be one guy and the way the team's built right now it's kind of up and down the lineup," said Reaves. "There's a little bit of bite on every line and different guys are going to step up on different nights."
Reaves has two fights and a few big hits already. He also mixed it up with Chicago’s Corey Perry on Monday.
"I never really liked him, to be honest," the 36-year-old said. "We always seem to kind of run into each other when we play against each other. Yeah, not a lot of love for that guy."
When did the distaste start?
"First day I met him on the ice," Reaves said. "Just the way he runs his mouth, I don't know. He kind of acts tough. He's not tough."
The Leafs will face the Blackhawks again on Nov. 24 in Chicago.
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This season-long five-game trip will help accelerate the bonding process for the team's new players.
"It's good just to get the boys together," said Reaves. "Here [in Toronto] it's a little spread out where everyone lives so hard to get everybody together. We had a nice Halloween party last night, but getting to the hotel, getting on the plane, a couple dinners, it will be good."
Reaves and his wife went to the Halloween party dressed as Snoop Dogg and Martha Stewart.
"I'm not a big celebrity guy, but one guy I'd love to meet is Snoop," said Reaves. "Everything he touches turns to gold. Him and Martha Stewart, obviously a power couple right there ... We were in the Uber going to the party yesterday and the guy actually asked me if I was a rapper so I guess I pulled it off well."
What was the best costume?
"We had a foursome of speed skaters," Reaves said. "Rolled in on rollerblades, the tights, everything. They looked pretty good. I heard they rollerbladed there too so they were probably sweating on the way."
Can we get some names?
Domi, sitting in the stall next to Reaves, smiled and shook his head.
"I'll snitch," Reaves said. "I don't care."
So, we can confirm it was Morgan Rielly, Matthews, Minten and Knies.
"It was a good look," Reaves said.
Marner agreed. Could he pull that off?
"Yeah, for sure I could have," he said. "I got a wife, though, that I got to get dressed up with."
Marner's wife dressed up as the Pink Panther while he was Inspector Jacques Clouseau.
"I got to wear a tie and a dress shirt," Marner said deadpan. "Just what I want to do on an off-day Halloween party."
What did Tavares go as?
"I was hippie," the centre said. "I had a nice 'fro going."
Tavares credited Reaves for being the life of the party.
"Reavo brings great personality and camaraderie and elements like that that go a long way in bringing a team together," Tavares said. "He understands the importance of that and takes a lot of pride in that. When we're spending time away from the rink together, how he leads the charge with that is great."
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Ilya Samsonov will start on Thursday, Keefe confirmed. However, the coach noted he doesn't plan on naming his starter ahead of time in the future if the opposing coach isn't asked about their plan.
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Lines at Wednesday's practice:
F
Gregor - Matthews - Marner
Knies - Tavares - Nylander
Domi - Minten - Jarnkrok
Benoit - Kampf - Reaves
D
Rielly - Brodie
McCabe - Liljegren
Giordano - Klingberg
G
Samsonov
Woll