Tavares may be back at Leafs practice this week

The Maple Leafs held their annual outdoor practice at Prince of Wales Rink in Mimico, Ont., on Monday.

John Tavares did not take part in Monday's outdoor practice, but the centre skated on his own back at the team's facility. A timeline for his return from a lower-body injury is starting to come into focus.

"I think later in the week, he could be on the ice with us, but maybe that's guessing a little bit," said head coach Craig Berube. "We've got to see how he's progressing here, but he's in a good spot. I think we're going to see him with us in practice pretty soon."

Tavares sustained the injury during practice on Jan. 15 when he got tangled up with defenceman Chris Tanev during a power-play drill. The Leafs have gone 3-2-0 without Tavares, who is tied for second on the team with 20 goals.

Berube indicated that Monday marked Tavares' second on-ice session since getting hurt.

---

Tavares has been joined on the sidelines by top-line winger Matthew Knies, who sustained an upper-body injury during a loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets last Wednesday. Knies skated prior to Friday's practice and Berube confirmed he was back on the ice on Monday.

Max Pacioretty, who has missed the last three games after taking a puck to the head on Jan. 18 in Montreal, also continues to skate with the return-to-play staff.

The Leafs have mustered just two goals while dropping their past two games, so getting a couple reinforcements this week could provide a spark up front. Toronto's next game is on Wednesday with the Minnesota Wild coming to town. Minnesota leads the NHL with 18 road wins this season. Toronto will wrap up the week with a game in Edmonton on Saturday.

Berube noted that Connor Dewar did not skate on Monday. The gritty winger sustained an upper-body injury on Jan. 20 during a game against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

---

With Knies out on Saturday, Bobby McMann took his place on the top line beside Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner and scored Toronto's only goal in a 2-1 loss to the Ottawa Senators.  

"Mitch's vision is unreal," McMann told reporters. "He found me in the slot and just tried to get it off quick."

McMann, who has scored 14 goals in 42 games this season, led the team with seven shots on net in Ottawa.

"He skated really well," Berube said. "That line was good. Bobby looked fine up there to me."

Per NaturalStatTrick.com, shots favoured the Leafs 7-2 when the top line was on the ice in 5-on-5 play on Saturday.

"More than anything, just competing hard and trying to get pucks back," McMann said of his mindset, "because I know if we have it on our sticks, especially those guys, we're going to be making plays."

"He's a great player that really can fit anywhere in your lineup," goalie Joseph Woll said. "He's got enough skill to play with those guys on the first line and he plays hard. He forechecks. And, you guys have seen it, he's got a pretty good shot."

---

Monday's practice saw players split into three groups – Team Wendel Clark, Team Doug Gilmour and Team Mats Sundin – for a 3-on-3 tournament. Team Clark, led by Matthews, came out on top.

"It's a lot more fun when you win it too, so it was a nice victory for us today," Matthews said with a smile. "We had a good lineup. Checked a lot of boxes. [Practice goalie] Andrew D'Agostini was a big plus for us too."

"Just gotta find a way," said grinning defenceman Morgan Rielly, who was also on Team Clark. "We didn't take no for an answer."

Berube told the players that the losing teams would have to pay for lunch for the winning team.

"But who knows if we'll ever see that," Matthews quipped. "We'll see."

The team's goalies – Woll, Matt Murray and Anthony Stolarz – remained back at the practice facility to go through a more traditional workout.

The event was a special one for team president Brendan Shanahan, who grew up in the neighbourhood.

"It's hard to come here and not think about my dad bringing me here in 1974, 1975," Shanahan said. "It hasn't changed that much, to be honest with you ... what a full circle [day] it's been. I feel really blessed to be able to bring the Maple Leafs here."

Shanahan, a Hockey Hall of Fame inductee, thinks the Prince of Wales rink may be the first one he ever skated on.

"I'm sure it means a lot," said Matthews, who is in his first season as captain. "I'm surprised he didn't bring his skates and gear up with us."

In recent years the event has been held downtown at Nathan Phillips Square. Despite the venue change, the stands remained packed.

"There's a lot of people here today to come watch this and enjoy it," observed Berube, who was soaking up his first outdoor practice as Leafs coach. "I don't know if they're not working. Is school off today?"

Hundreds of fans, including many kids, braved the cold – the temperature hovered around the freezing mark on Monday morning – to watch. Mayor Olivia Chow was on hand to lead the crowd in a "Go Leafs Go!" cheer as the team arrived.

Matthews didn't skate outdoors while growing up in Arizona, but he had the chance to skip out on school a few times while pursuing his hockey dream.

"It's the best," the 27-year-old recalled. "Yeah, it's the best. It's a good feeling so I can only imagine that today probably has been a pretty good day for a lot of these kids. It's been a lot of fun for everybody."

"I didn't skip school to watch practices," said Rielly, "but I respect it. We got a lot of kids out here having fun."

---

Jacob Quillan did not take the ice on Monday. The 22-year-old forward absorbed a knee-on-knee hit from Senators forward Nick Cousins in Ottawa. There was no penalty on the play.

"That was a tough hit," Berube said after Saturday's game. "I didn't understand how they missed that. To me, that is a knee all day long."

"Stuff happens like that," Quillan told reporters. "Just gotta keep going. Nothing you can do."

Cousins got the worst of the collision and did not return to the game.

Quillan logged just five minutes and 21 seconds of ice time in his NHL debut.

"It is a tough game for him to play," Berube acknowledged. "It got tight, so I didn't give him a lot down the stretch, but for me, he was fine."

What stood out to Quillan?

"Just the pace and how good these guys are with their sticks," the Nova Scotia native said. "The speed was just next level. It was a good learning experience and I'll take a lot away from it."

---

The Leafs will get back to work with a traditional practice on Tuesday. Despite the loss in Ottawa, Berube was pleased with the effort.

"We had a lot of opportunities that we didn't put in the net," the coach said. "I think that is the difference. The team played hard. We were ready to go. I thought we did a lot of good things except score. We got better as the game went along."\

Entering the game, the team had prioritized net-front play.

"We have been talking in the last couple of games about being harder at our net and harder at their net, too," defenceman Jake McCabe told reporters. "In the third period, we were coming on and providing some pressure down there. They got the bounce in the front of the net, but I thought we defended pretty well for the most part. Woll did another great job. Just came up short."

---

Lines in Saturday's game:

McMann - Matthews - Marner
Domi - Holmberg - Nylander
Lorentz - Kampf - Robertson
Quillan - Minten - Reaves

Rielly - McCabe
Ekman-Larsson - Tanev
Benoit - Myers

Woll
Murray