Tavares, Knies trend toward return as Leafs prep for 'one of the toughest tests'
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The Toronto Maple Leafs and Edmonton Oilers practised at Rogers Place in Edmonton on Friday.
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Help is on the way as the Leafs look to avoid their longest losing streak of the season. John Tavares and Matthew Knies returned to practice on Friday as the team prepared for Saturday's showdown with the Edmonton Oilers.
"I felt I got all my strength back," said Knies, who reunited with Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner on the top line. "I think I should be in tomorrow."
Tavares was less certain, but also seemed optimistic.
"I keep progressing really, really well," said Tavares, who practised as the second-line centre with Max Pacioretty and William Nylander on his wings. "I really just try to narrow my focus to getting a little better every day. Obviously, it's led to being part of practice today and being able to push myself pretty good. It was very positive."
Head coach Craig Berube feels there's a "good chance" both forwards will be back in the lineup on Saturday. The development comes as welcome news for a Leafs team that has dropped three straight games while scoring just three goals.
This is the third time this season that Toronto has dropped three straight games and only the second time that all the losses have come in regulation. The Leafs haven't lost four straight in regulation since the final days of the Mike Babcock era in November 2019.
Tavares, who is tied for second on the team with 20 goals, has been sidelined since sustaining a lower-body injury via a practice collision with Chris Tanev on Jan. 15.
"He's skating the one way and his foot just kind of clips me, but it kind of drags me at the same time," Tavares recalled. "It kind of hooked my leg and stretching me out pretty good. I was a little nervous with how my leg was stretching out, my left one, and then kind of shifted all my weight to my right, and my foot just got stuck in the ice, and with all my weight there. Obviously wasn't a great result, but it is what it is."
Berube revealed that Tavares is considered ahead of schedule in his recovery.
Knies, who is second on the team with 15 goals in 5-on-5 play, has missed the last two games after getting hurt while throwing a hit on Columbus Blue Jackets forward Kirill Marchenko on Jan. 22.
"It was kind of a fluky play," Knies said. "Just tried to get body position on him. I fell kind of awkwardly there. Yeah, it just didn't feel comfortable with my shoulder, and that's kind of the reason I wanted to take some time, heal it up, and make sure I was 100 per cent to go for the next game."
If they do indeed play, Tavares and Knies will not be able to ease back in. The division-leading Oilers went 10-3-1 in January. Leon Draisaitl leads the league with 36 goals and came in No. 1 on TSN's list of the top 25 players this season. Teammate Connor McDavid came in No. 3.
"It'll be a challenge, that's for sure," Tavares said with a smile. "It's always unbelievable to play against the best and what they can do and certainly what they accomplished last year ... It's always a lot of fun, but one of the toughest tests you get. So, yeah, if that's the case, looking forward to it."
The Oilers blew a 2-0 lead in a 3-2 shootout loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday.
"I don't think they love their game right now either," McDavid said. "They're looking to score some goals and we're looking to stop giving up chances so it will be a good test for both sides."
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Draisaitl and McDavid practised on the same line at Oilers practice on Friday. The Leafs countered that move by reuniting their shutdown defence pair of Jake McCabe and Chris Tanev.
"We're going [to face] a pretty good line here tomorrow," Berube said. "We all know that, and we're going to need those two guys to do a good job for us. I had Caber on the right for a bit and, coming off the injury, I didn't feel like he was the same over there."
McCabe, a lefty, played the last four games on the right side of Morgan Rielly. He was minus-three in that stretch. At Friday's practice, lefty Oliver Ekman-Larsson moved to the right side with Rielly.
"OEL and Mo played together quite a bit this year," Berube said. "We need those top four to be really good tomorrow."
The Oilers have the last-change advantage and usually lean on their top players quite a bit. McDavid is averaging just over 22 minutes of ice time a night while Draisaitl is at 21 minutes and 35 seconds.
"That's a lot of minutes," Berube said. "Those guys are very good and used to it and they can handle it. I think we've got to be prepared to have two lines to work against those guys in different situations. And maybe two D pairs too, you know, depending on the situations ... When they load them up, they're hard to handle for sure."
"Their ability to maintain high level of play through endurance is exceptional," Tavares said. "Everyone's going to see bits and parts of them at different times of the game ... It takes everyone just to defend them as a group, not just one or two guys, but creating layers."
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Corey Perry, who is averaging 11 minutes and 31 seconds of ice time this season, moved up to skate on Edmonton's top line at practice.
"Leon and Connor are probably going to play 22 to 24 minutes tomorrow night," said Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch. "Corey will not be playing 22, 24 minutes so it will be more of a job by committee. There's certain guys that will be up in that spot. There will be certain situations where we lean on [Corey] more and other guys in other situations."
Perry is scoring 0.94 goals per 60 minutes at 5-on-5, per NaturalStatTrick.com, which ranks behind only Draisaitl and Zach Hyman among Oiler regulars.
"He's been great all year," McDavid said. "When he gets a chance, he continues to show that he's got elite skill, you know, elite, elite skill. He's shown that his whole career. So good around the net. Good hands. Crafty, smart. Yeah, you just got to get him the puck in a good area and usually good things happen."
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When these teams faced off on Nov. 16, Ryan Reaves was given a game misconduct for an illegal hit to the head of Darnell Nurse. The Leafs winger was suspended five games while the Oilers defenceman missed three games due to injury. But revenge is not on Nurse's mind heading into the rematch.
"My job is to go out there and play against some of the best and I don't want to take myself out of that situation and hurt our team," Nurse said.
If Tavares and Knies dress, Reaves is set to be a healthy scratch on Saturday. He skated as the 13th forward at practice.
Regardless of who plays, these Leafs and Oilers games tend to be emotional. There's a healthy rivalry between the two markets.
"Always feels like a lot of Leafs fans in the building, too much media in the room," Nurse said with a grin. "Just a combination of a lot of things. These games are a lot of fun, especially in the last few years when both teams have been fairly good so expect a hard-fought game tomorrow."
"Guys are excited," McDavid said. "You know, we get the 5 o'clock start time. It's always nice, they come into our building and we got to change our schedule around, but it is what it is. So, it's exciting. Always fun to play the Leafs and their big names. They got some special players over there."
Oilers home games on Saturday usually start at 10 pm ET / 8 pm MT so they can be the second game of the Hockey Night in Canada double header. But when the Leafs come to town, the game shifts to the earlier 7 pm ET / 5 pm MT window.
"We get finished up a little bit earlier," McDavid said. "I like it a little bit better than the 8 o'clock [start] so I guess that's not a bad thing."
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After Friday's game, Rielly admitted "it's a battle right now" when it comes to generating offence. Toronto's top offensive-minded defenceman has produced just 22 points and is on pace for 35, which would be a sharp decline from last season's 58. Rielly also lost his spot on the top power-play unit earlier this season as the Leafs opted to go with a five-forward alignment.
Berube had a meeting with Rielly on Friday. The coach urged the 30-year-old to be more aggressive.
"Just not being tentative and just get up in the play like he normally does and do his thing offensively," Berube said. "Mistakes happen in the game for everybody and you can't be focused on mistakes. Use your abilities. He's a good skater, sees the ice well, gets up the ice. We talked today. Had a good talk. Just pushing a little bit more. Getting up in the play. Shooting pucks more. Being more aggressive in that area of the ice."
Rielly has landed only one shot on net in the last five games.
"I'm doing everything I can to contribute more offensively," Rielly said on Wednesday night, "be up in the play, drive that without taking risk on the defensive side of things."
Rielly has spoken consistently about trying to minimize the risk in his game this season as he adapts to Berube's system, which features less of an emphasis on rush offence.
"We asked everybody to minimize risk with how we want to play the game," Berube said. "We don't want to be a risky team. We want to be a smart hockey team with the puck. But, at the same time, he can't pull too far back. He's got to play his game. We got to let him play his game. And, like I said, stuff happens, mistakes happen, but be aggressive and use your abilities ... It's finding the sweet spot, as they say."
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Matthews missed the first game of the season against McDavid and the Oilers so this will be the first meeting of the year between the pair of superstars. Although Matthews and McDavid did spend some time together in the offseason.
"It's been a growing relationship for sure," McDavid said. "We have the same agent [Judd Moldaver] now so there's a connection that way. We did those commercials together. It was a long couple days together, but it was fun to spend some time with him. It's been a relationship that's built over the years, but it's a good one for sure."
The commercials were for McDonald's and featured McDavid and Matthews attempting to outdo each other with some trick shots. The fast food chain first used that commercial concept in 1993 in a spot starring basketball legends Michael Jordan and Larry Bird, which was followed in 1997 by one featuring Wayne Gretzky and former Leafs captain Mats Sundin.
"Definitely some long days, but it made it a little bit easier to have someone there with you and going through it all," Matthews said of the shoot. "But it was fun to look back on and kind of seeing them come out with the commercials and stuff, and just the history of that particular one. I mean, it's pretty cool."
The advertisement ends with both players eating a burger inspired by their game. How much has Matthews indulged in the "The Smoky Quarter Papi"?
"I tried it once," he said with a smile. "That's it. Got to stay on point during the season."
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McDavid will play with Draisaitl on Saturday night, but when he gets to the 4 Nations Face-Off he may end up on a line with Marner.
"Mitch is a guy that I've never played with before at any level so I'm excited about that," McDavid said. "Such a smart player. He's having a terrific year. Such a great playmaker. He reminds me a little bit of Leon [in] that he can slow the game down when he has to and I like playing with guys like that. So, yeah, I'm excited about that."
McDavid, who will serve as an alternate captain, is also excited about the chance to learn from Team Canada captain Sidney Crosby.
"It's going to be a room where guys are learning from each other all over from practice, from preparation, from just habits," the 28-year-old said. "Guys will be trying to pick stuff, you know, take stuff from each other all over. Certainly Sid will be a guy that I'll be watching and trying to learn whatever I can from."
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Defenceman Jani Hakanpää did not accompany the Leafs on this road trip.
"He's back in Toronto skating and doing things there," Berube said. "Really, I don't have a timeline for him. I really, I don't."
The 32-year-old, who was named to Finland's 4 Nations Face-Off roster, hasn't played since Nov. 16 due to a nagging knee issue.
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Goalie Antony Stolarz took part in his second full practice as he works his way back from knee surgery. He had his own net during Friday's workout.
"Physically I feel really good," he said. "Just trying to get back and get the nuances of being a goalie again back, and getting my timing and rhythm back. I think I made some strides here the last couple practices, so try to get a few more in me and see where we're at."
The Leafs will have plenty of practice time during this trip, because the games are spaced out. After Saturday's game, Toronto doesn't play again until Tuesday in Calgary.
Stolarz started the season strong with a .927 save percentage in 17 games.
"I'm kind of a perfectionist," he said. "I want to make sure that you're dialled in and you come back right where I left off."
Stolarz hasn't played since Dec. 12.
"The biggest thing is angles," he explained. "Just kind of knowing where you are. You kind of get lost out there in the first couple practices. You think you're on and you're two, three inches off and that makes all the difference. [Goalie coach] Curtis [Sanford] has been working on a lot of different things and he's been pushing me a little bit here, so it's been a nice last couple days."
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Leafs lines in Friday's practice:
Knies - Matthews - Marner
Pacioretty - Tavares - Nylander
McMann - Domi - Robertson
Holmberg - Kampf - Lorentz
Reaves
McCabe - Tanev
Rielly - Ekman-Larsson
Benoit - Timmins
Myers
Woll
Stolarz
Power play units at Friday's practice:
QB: Marner
Flanks: Matthews, Nylander
Bumper: Tavares
Net front: Knies
QB: Rielly
Flanks: Domi, Robertson
Bumper: McMann
Net front: Pacioretty