'Good news' as Leafs consider Tanev injury to be 'day-to-day' situation
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The Maple Leafs practised at Warrior Ice Arena in Boston on Wednesday. The team will take the day off in New York City on Thursday.
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Leafs head coach Craig Berube announced that defenceman Chris Tanev is considered "day-to-day" after sustaining an upper-body injury during Tuesday's wild win in Boston.
"That's good news," Berube said. "We're happy with that."
Tanev sustained the injury on his second shift of the game when Bruins forward Johnny Beecher hit him into the boards. The 35-year-old left TD Garden with his right arm in a sling.
Tanev is expected to miss Friday's game against the New York Rangers, but is remaining on the road with the team. The road trip will wrap up on Sunday in Pittsburgh.
Even a short-term injury to Tanev creates a significant hole in the Leafs lineup.
"You want him on the ice 60 minutes a game," said veteran winger Max Pacioretty. "He's a one-man break-out machine. He does what it takes for the team to win hockey games. [He's] blocking huge shots, making really good, strong defensive plays that don't always get recognized by everybody, but in that room we sure recognize it."
The Leafs will be leaning even more on remaining top-four blueliners Morgan Rielly, Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Jake McCabe to help fill the void.
"OEL and McCabe and Mo have played really well lately," Berube noted. "I thought Mo and OEL were great last night. They'll have to step up, but all the D will have to step up and do the job. They all have to dig in and step up."
Rielly and Ekman-Larsson logged more than 27 minutes each during Tuesday's 5-4 overtime victory. McCabe, who is Tanev's usual partner, played more than 25 minutes. All three defencemen stayed off the ice on Wednesday to rest and recover from the workload.
Tanev is averaging just over 20 minutes of ice time a night and almost always gets matched up against the top line on the other team.
"Everybody has to give a bit more," said defenceman Simon Benoit. "I play that defensive role so maybe I'm going to get a little more opportunity here to play those big lines and I'll be up to task for sure."
Benoit was paired with McCabe for much of last season.
Philippe Myers is set to draw in against the Rangers on Friday. It will be his first game action since Feb. 8.
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Tanev leads the Leafs in shorthanded ice time this season.
"He blocks everything," said winger Matthew Knies. "He's practically a second goalie on the penalty kill."
Boston scored twice on the power play on Tuesday night after Tanev left the game.
"It's a hole, yeah, no doubt," Berube acknowledged. "He's a great penalty killer, always has been, and blocks a ton of shots. That's a skill, blocking shots. It is. It really is. There's a willingness that has to be involved in blocking a shot, but it's a skill too and he's really got that down."
Tanev is third in the NHL in blocked shots this season.
The Leafs have played without Tanev only once this season, losing 5-2 to the Winnipeg Jets on Dec. 23. The Jets scored on one of their two power plays in that game.
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William Nylander did not take any shifts in overtime on Tuesday. The team's leading goal scorer appeared to be looking at his hand or wrist on the bench.
It remains unclear exactly what caused the discomfort.
"Contact somewhere or something," said Berube. "I don't really know exactly, because I didn't really talk to him on the bench about it."
Nylander did not skate on Wednesday, but the issue is not considered serious.
"More of a maintenance day for him," Berube said. "I know he didn't finish the game, but I don't see anything out of that. He was getting today off anyhow."
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Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner also stayed off the ice on Wednesday as the team looked to get their 4 Nations Face-Off participants some additional rest.
"They are a little wiped out," Berube acknowledged.
The coach kept the top-line tandem below 20 minutes in both games over the weekend, but with the Leafs trailing most of the night in Boston, Berube shortened his bench. Matthews played 22 minutes and 41 seconds while Marner was way up to 25 minutes and 41 seconds.
Marner was so tired after a marathon 6-on-5 shift at the end of the third period that he didn't even see who scored Toronto's tying goal.
"I was breathing through my eyelids kind of," Marner said.
The effort throughout the night didn't go unnoticed by teammates.
"He's someone who's a catalyst of our team," praised goalie Anthony Stolarz. "You look at him and I think he was out there for like a minute and a half and instead of changing he stays on in the D-zone. He's not trying to cheat the game. He knows that it's his responsibility to stay there and play a defensive game late."
After being held without a point in games against Carolina and Chicago, Marner produced two goals, including the overtime winner, in Boston.
"I was happy with that performance," he said. "I wasn't happy with the other ones, really, with the effort, but I'm starting to get my energy back slowly."
"He and Auston have been a little bit tired, but I thought they showed a lot of grit," Berube said. "A lot of determination out of them."
Matthews picked up the assist on Marner's game-winning goal.
Before scoring on an overtime breakaway, Marner nearly created a goal-of-the-year candidate during a 2-on-1 rush with John Tavares.
"That kick pass, I haven't seen that in a long time," Knies said. "He was making plays all night. It's fun to watch him do that kind of stuff."
Marner was playing at TD Garden only days after assisting on the Connor McDavid overtime goal, which clinched Team Canada the title at the 4 Nations event.
"Cool memory for sure, but I try to be in the present," the 27-year-old said. "The past is what it is. It was a cool moment to share with your family and now it's back with the Leafs and trying to win games."
Marner also scored an overtime winner in Canada's opening game against Sweden.
"He had a good experience," said Rielly. "I thought he played great and obviously to win the tournament is great. But he comes back and he's kind of just back to his old self and back to work. It would be easy for him to change or get caught up in hanging out with all the big dogs, but he just comes back and he's right back to his old self, so we love him."
One of the big dogs on Team Canada was Bruins winger Brad Marchand, who enjoyed the opportunity to play alongside Marner for the first time.
"He's a very talkative kid, fun to be around," Marchand told TSN before Tuesday's game. "Obviously he's extremely talented. He's always been one of my favourite players as a fan of the game. Loved being his teammate."
That is a common refrain for the players who share a dressing room with Marner.
Marner, though, has struggled to produce in some key moments in the playoffs, which is something he alluded to himself after Tuesday's overtime win when asked if TD Garden is rising up his list of favourite buildings.
"Ah, I don't know about that," he said. "I mean, I've had a couple tough really gut-wrenching things in this building as well as some great memories. So, we'll see. I'm just trying to go out there and do my thing."
Marner and the Leafs lost three Game 7s in Boston over the previous seven seasons.
There's hope in Leafs Nation that Marner's best-on-best breakthrough may provide some added confidence in the playoffs this spring. Marner said one thing he is taking away from the performance is additional belief.
But not everyone thinks he needs a confidence boost.
"He does not get fazed by anything," said Pacioretty, who's in his first season with the Leafs. "Overtime in one of probably the biggest games of his life, he just trusts his instincts and hangs out in that corner and makes a play that not many people in the league can make. People want to make a big deal out of the stage and whatnot, but you saw last night in overtime, he puts it through his legs and kicks it over on a 2-on-1. The guy just makes plays every time, and I don't have much else to say about that."
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After scoring the winning goal on Tuesday, Marner made a beeline for Stolarz.
"He made a couple massive saves to keep the game how it was and just wanted to give him some love," Marner told TSN.
Stolarz denied Morgan Geekie who had a great chance at the end of the first period when the Bruins were up 2-0 and threatening to pull away for good.
"It's big saves, but it's the timeliness of them as well," Pacioretty said.
Stolarz robbed Bruins defenceman Mason Lohrei right before Marner won it in overtime.
"I don't know how it stayed out," Marner said. "It was a great save by Stolls."
Stolarz was bowled over on the play.
"I came up and I think my helmet was on sideways," he said. "I was just trying to locate the puck and luckily we had it."
Stolarz allowed four goals for only the fourth time in 20 games this season, but walked away feeling really good about the performance.
"The other team gets paid too," he said. "They're going to make good plays and they're going to score goals. Some nights you're not going to give up the two or the three or the zero or one. You're going to have nights like this but I think, for me, just coming back, my second game after break, I felt really good in there. I was moving crisply. I was seeing the puck pretty well, making some athletic saves. It's two points for us and that's the most important thing and just kind of continue to build on it for me."
Stolarz has now won all three of his starts since returning from a knee injury just before the 4 Nations break.
"He's been awesome all year," said Rielly. "He's been outstanding. He can play the puck extremely well and he's just a big guy [6-foot-6, 243 pounds] who moves well. He's really, really competitive. You can hear him on the ice yelling and he's in the play."
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Rielly's fingerprints were all over the comeback. He had a hand in four of Toronto's five goals.
Rielly scored Toronto's first goal of the game late in the second period, but his best play may have come in the third period when he threaded the needle to set up a Nick Robertson goal.
"That was an amazing pass," Robertson raved. "I just all the sudden put my stick on the ice and it was there."
"That pass he made to Robbie was pretty incredible with the way he found that lane," Knies said. "Same with getting the puck on net when he scored. Little things like that, he's helped a lot and really found his game as of late."
After being encouraged by Berube to get in the attack more and not be preoccupied with avoiding mistakes, Rielly went on a four-game point streak prior to the break. He's now up to eight points in the last seven games.
"This has been going on for a few weeks now where he is way more involved offensively, more aggressive, and is making plays with confidence," Berube said.
Rielly played a season high 27 minutes and 42 seconds in Boston.
"Amazing," Marner marvelled. "For how much he was all over the place and making great plays for us, it's very impressive."
As part of the offensive explosion, Rielly became only the 15th player in the franchise's 107-year history to hit the 500-point milestone.
"Mo's been the backbone of this team for a long time and it's an awesome accomplishment for him," Marner said.
Rielly is loathe to talk about personal accomplishments.
"It feels good," the 30-year-old from Vancouver said. "But, I mean, I don't know, whatever anyone else would say. There's more important things and to win is great. This is a good little road trip for us to come back after the break and spend some time with the guys and to win helps that mood."
"He's like the glue guy," said Benoit. "He brings everybody together, so having a good night like that, just happy to see it."
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Robertson is heating up. He also scored twice in Chicago on Sunday.
"I just think I'm keeping it simple and shooting the puck," he said. "I like the physicality in my game because that helps everything else and keeps me in the game."
On top of scoring on Tuesday, Robertson also won a battle to set up the late tying goal by Pontus Holmberg.
The coaching staff had a meeting with Robertson earlier in the season and encouraged him to be more physical despite standing just 5-foot-9, 178 pounds.
"I'm not talking about running around and trying to kill, hit everything in sight," Berube explained. "It's contact on pucks. Get in there with your speed and create contact and [create] those loose puck battles and he's doing that and he's around the net now too."
Rielly's goal was the result of Robertson driving the net and tying up Bruins defenceman Parker Wotherspoon, who had the puck deflect in off him.
"Everybody wants to shoot it in the net, but just being around the net you score a lot of goals," Berube said. "That's just a habit more than anything. Robbie's got great abilities. He's got great speed, we know that. He has a real good shot. It's just about getting on the inside more than anything and he's done that lately and is getting rewarded for it."
Berube isn't the only person urging Robertson to throw his weight around.
"It's so hard when you get hit by those little players," said Benoit, who stands 6-foot-4. "I told him that. It's harder to get hit by a smaller guy because they get you right in the ribs and then you have no breath and they can get the puck more often. Seeing him putting his body out there, it makes him a great player and really hard to play against and he showed it yesterday."
Robertson angered Jeremy Swayman by taking a poke at a puck the Bruins goalie had just covered up, which started a scrum. Robertson later won a puck battle by making a stick check on David Pastrnak, which sent the Boston winger's twig flying into the stands.
"I like his game right now," Benoit said. "He shows he can be a little hard to play against."
Robertson seems to have an extra pep in his step after spending the 4 Nations break in Florida where he trained alongside older brother Jason Robertson. The siblings are both hot right now as Jason, a star with the Dallas Stars, posted a hat trick on Sunday. They became the first brothers to score multiple goals on the same night in the NHL since Pavel Bure and Valeri Bure in 2000.
"We were buzzing from that," Nick said.
Jason also scored again on Tuesday.
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Pacioretty returned to practice after missing the last three games with an undisclosed injury.
"I can't tell you much," Pacioretty said of what's been plaguing him. "Something that just popped up and have to take care of that and see how it responds here the next couple days."
Pacioretty said he felt "decent" during Wednesday's workout.
"Not too bad," he added.
Berube believes Pacioretty will probably be available for Friday's game against the Rangers.
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Lines at Wednesday's practice:
McMann - Tavares - Holmberg
Knies - Domi - Robertson
Lorentz Kampf Reaves
Pacioretty - Dewar - Steeves
Benoit - Timmins
Jarnkrok - Myers
Stolarz and Woll