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SPORTSCENTRE Reporter

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TSN Toronto Reporter Mark Masters reports on the Maple Leafs. Head coach Sheldon Keefe held a media availability before Thursday's game against the Vancouver Canucks.

 

Morgan Rielly, Jake Muzzin and Nick Foligno will not pl​ay tonight for the Leafs. It's an maintenance day for all three, per Keefe. 
 
Ben Hutton, Timothy Liljegren and Pierre Engvall draw into the lineup. Acquired from Anaheim at the trade deadline, Hutton is making his Leafs debut. Liljegren ​will be making his season debut with the Leafs. 
 
Toronto clinched a playoff spot last night and owns a seven-point lead on the second-place Edmonton Oilers in the North Division. So, Keefe was asked if the team plans to employ more load management down the stretch. 
 
"We'll take it a day at a time and a game at a time based on how the players are feeling and what the schedule is bringing us," Keefe said. "I guess the easy answer is, 'No,' I don't foresee it given the way schedule goes. But, again, how the players are feeling is really going to dictate it more than anything and we'll adjust accordingly."
 
Toronto is concluding its final back-to-back set of the regular season tonight. 
 
"We're glad we don't have any more of these remaining on the schedule," Keefe said. "The schedule actually does lighten up for us here the rest of the way."
 
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David Rittich gets a shot at redemption tonight as he makes his third start and fourth appearance as a Maple Leaf. Rittich allowed five goals on 28 shots against the Canucks during a nightmare performance last week in Vancouver. 
 
"Ritter's a great teammate and he works so hard," said Jack Campbell, who got the win last night in Montreal. "He comes in with a great attitude every day, encouraging me. I know he's a great goalie. We've had a lot of great battles against each other. He's an NHL All-Star. He knows how to play and puts a lot of pressure on himself, too. I think he's just looking to go out and have some fun and show us what he can do."
 
Michael Hutchinson will dress as the backup goalie tonight so Campbell can get a full night off to rest. 
 
Braden Holtby gets the call between the pipes for the Canucks, who are the only team with a winning record (4-3-0) against the Leafs this season. Vancouver has won four straight games against Toronto although all four came in British Columbia. 
 
Holtby is 3-1-0 with a .933 save percentage since Vancouver returned from a COVID outbreak, including two wins against Toronto. 

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Kole Lind, a second-round pick in the 2017 draft, will make his NHL debut tonight for the Canucks. 
 
"I'm not putting Kole Lind in so he can get a game under his belt," said coach Travis Green. "I'm putting him in because I feel he can help us win. When you look at the standings, we’re two games under .500, Montreal's three games over .500 and that can change fast." 
 
Lind, a 22-year-old forward from Saskatchewan, has eight points in eight American Hockey League games with Utica this season. 
 
"This is not about Kole Lind just getting a free game," Green said. "He's going in because I'm hoping he can help us win and give us a shot of energy. He looks, to me, a little more confident than the last time I saw him. He's got nice hands. He's been creative in practice. He's got a good shot. It's no secret we've been struggling to score, struggling to create. But I also have to find the right spot for him knowing it's his first game in the NHL and seeing how he looks at the beginning and working him in accordingly."
Jayce Hawryluk will come out of the lineup to make room for Lind. 
 
The Canucks are also making a change on defence as Jalen Chatfield replaces Olli Juolevi.

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Auston Matthews made an incredible play to score his league-leading 35th goal last night in Montreal. The Leafs centre knocked the puck out of the air, putting it past Nick Suzuki and then snapping it by Jake Allen. 
 
"It all kind of just happened fast," Matthews said modestly. "Just saw the puck and tried to get it on my stick. I don't know, it just happened really fast."

His teammates had a bit more to say. 
 
"Just elite," gushed Joe Thornton. "The elite of the elite. His release is incredible. He's the prototypical power forward that can just do it all right now."
 
"Wow, like, what a treat to watch," said Campbell. "He's a world-class player. He shows it every night and that goal was just a little glimpse of what we get to see every day."
 
The coach's perspective was a bit different. 
 
"I appreciate that he bailed out Nick Foligno for forcing a puck into the middle of the ice," Keefe said moments after the game. "That could have been a real bad turnover for us and he picked it off, turned it into a goal, which was a sign of the type of night that it was for us that things are going our way early there. Yeah, it was a great goal. To be honest, I still can't say that I've seen it as I was not very impressed with the play before that, but I'm happy it worked out for us."

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Toronto's oldest players won't get a night off as the Leafs wrap up their final back-to-back set of the regular season. And considering how the 41-year-old Thornton and 37-year-old Jason Spezza have been looking of late, you can understand why Keefe wants to keep them in a groove. 
 
"We're playing with a couple of living legends," Matthews said. "It's pretty awesome at this stage in their career how passionate they are about the team, about winning, about performing every night."
 
Spezza moved into a tie for 99th place with Maurice ‘Rocket’ Richard on the all-time points list last night while Thornton picked up assist No. 1,100, becoming the seventh player in history to reach that mark. 
 
"Every day you come in and it’s like you're in awe to see those guys in the locker room," Campbell said. "You're having a coffee with Jumbo or Spezz and I find myself just chuckling in the car after, because I'm like, 'Wow, Jumbo and Spezz are my buddies.' It's pretty cool. And then you hear about the records or milestones that they [reach] and it truly is incredibly special. Not only are they historic hockey players, they're historic teammates and everybody will say that."

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Riley Nash skated on Thursday morning. It’s the first time we've seen him on the ice since the centre was acquired from the Columbus Blue Jackets before the deadline. Nash is working his way back from a knee sprain sustained on April 4.
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Projected Leafs lineup: 
Thornton - Matthews - Marner 
Galchenyuk - Tavares - Nylander 
Mikheyev - Kerfoot - Simmonds 
Engvall - Brooks - Spezza 
 
Sandin - Brodie 
Hutton - Holl
Dermott - Liljegren
 
Rittich starts 
Campbell ​